The Champion is Never Forgotten
by Gerbilftw
Summary: Some years after Sinnoh. Brock's getting married, and he wants to invite all his friends to attend his wedding, but he's having problems finding one of them, and what's between the connection between this person and May? Dark-Ash AAMayL Advanceshipping.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello and welcome to my third story! This will be an advanceshipping story, but it will just be a few chapters!**

**First of all: I'd like to thank Justicez for correcting the story and helping me with the grammar and so on, but let's get started!**

**The story will be some years after the Sinnoh league!**

**R&R**

**Enjoy the chapter!  
**

* * *

Brock felt his hands get all sweaty, he looked at the girl in front of him, the girl with light red hair and blue eyes. They had known each other for a while now, it all started after the Sinnoh league, she had looked him up and then came to visit him. He had been delighted when he saw her, even if she didn't want to tell him the reason for her visit.

Two years later they had gotten together, she had always felt a little jealous when Brock flirted with Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny, but then he suddenly stopped and started to spend more and more time with her. Then it was time for Brock to meet her parents, he had to admit that he was feeling very nervous at the beginning, but it then turned out that her parents actually like him!

And now here he was, the big moment, the moment that came at least once in a lifetime for most people.

"Holly." He looked straight into the girl's eyes as he a blue and white bird pokemon, a Wingull, rested on her shoulder.

"What is it, Brock?" His girlfriend answered with a sweet smile, unfortunately, the smile only served to make Brock even more nervous than before. "Are you OK?"

Brock gulped a bit before he broke his gaze and then looked out over the sea of Kanto, he saw several flying and water pokemon under and above the sea, but they were too far away to tell what they were.

"Holly..." Brock sighed in frustration; this was a lot harder than he thought that it would've been. "How long have we been together?"

"Four years, Brock." She smiled once more at him and wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "Time sure flies fast when you're in love!"

"Yeah..." The breeder tried to gather his courage once again.

He gazed into her eyes and was about to speak, but he choked it back when he saw her smiling her sweet and innocent smile that she was directing at him.

She had come and told him that she wanted to learn how to be a breeder, but she didn't tell him that it wasn't just lessons that she was seeking. Brock had taken this mission to heart and taught her almost everything he knew about pokemon and breeding, she was a quick learner and after just one year she had learned just about everything that Brock could teach.

After that they had started their own breeding center in Pewter City. It was a center where people can come and turn in their pokemon for some grooming or pampering, like a spa of sorts for pokemon.

The business was good, seeing as they had set it up next to the gym so that trainers could rest their pokemon after their battles.

"What's wrong Brock?" Holly asked, now a little worried, she had never seen her boyfriend space out like that before. "Are you feeling sick?"

"It's not that." He denied, waving his hand in front of his face. "I was just thinking."

"Don't tell me that you've started flirting with Nurse Joy again, haven't you?" Holly sighed, she knew that it had only been a temporary, but welcome, phase.

"No!" Brock almost cried out. "I'm not doing that anymore, believe me, I've changed!"

"I know you have, Brock." She smiled once more. "If something is wrong, why don't you tell me?"

"Fine, I will." Brock sighed and broke the embrace and got down on one knee in front of her, much to her surprise.

"Holly." Brock was starting to look through his pockets for something. "We've been together for many years, and in that time, you've come a long way as a breeder, but more importantly, you've also honoured me by being my girlfriend, and the last four years have been nothing short of magical for me. We own a company together, my family loves you, and your family hopefully likes me too .What I'm trying to say is...... Holly, will you marry me?"

Holly gasped as she saw the diamond ring in his hands, she didn't know what to say. She had been dreaming of this day for ages now, but when the day actually came, she didn't know what to say!

"Yes...." She managed to whisper, however, Brock didn't hear her.

"What did you say?" Brock asked, his voice filled with hope.

"Yes!" She shouted and hugged him. "I will marry you!"

Her words suddenly struck Brock as he started to laugh and hug her back, they broke the hug and Brock put the ring on her finger as he then got up and sealed their promise with a kiss.

* * *

_A few hours later... The Pewter City Gym..._

* * *

Flint really had a hard time taking care of the children, as usual. Lola was probably away on some shopping-tour or something useless like that.

He groaned as the twins threw a big metal pot on his head, he didn't know how he was able to take care of the family, but it all worked out in the end.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone open the door and saw his wife enter the house, cheerful as always.

"Hi sweetie!" She cooed and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Were the children behaved while I was away?"

"What do you think?" He mumbled and sighed as he placed himself on a chair. "I don't get it, how did Brock manage to take care of them by himself for ten years?"

"He's a responsible young man!" Lola stated with pride as she took a seat beside her husband. "Where is he anyway?"

She got her answer when she heard the door open.

"Mom! Dad! Guess what!" They heard Brock shout as he ran inside, Holly's hand in his. "You won't believe what have happened!"

"Let me guess, you're going to get married?" Flint smirked as he leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed.

"How..." The couple was dumbfound. "How did you know...?"

"You're wearing the same look your mother and I had when we were about to announce it to my parents!" The former gym leader just laughed as he got up and hugged his oldest son and his fiancée. "It's great to hear!"

"Thanks dad!" Brock laughed and hugged him back, only to thrown aside by his mother.

"I'm so proud of you!" She squealed and squeezed the breath out of his lungs.

"Mum... can't... breath..." He panted as he tried to get some air into his tortured lungs.

His mother ignored him, but she eventually let go of him and then hugged Holly.

"It's so nice to see that Brock finally is getting married!" She told Holly with a big smile. "We were starting to think that he was a lost cause!"

"Mom!" Brock yelled, frustrated as he glared at her a little. "You don't have to embarrass me!"

His mother just ignored him and stuck her head into the living room.

"Kids! Brock's getting married!" She shouted, Brock gulped as he heard the thunderous footfalls of many small feet.

* * *

After an hour of hugs and cries, Brock and Holly decided to spread the news to their friends.

The male breeder thought about who he was going to tell first, he then decided to just flip through his address book and see what number it stopped at.

"_Gary..._" Brock dialed the number eagerly, he really wanted to spread the news and prove to his friends that he was able to get married.

It took a few rings before he heard somebody pick up the phone.

"Hello, this is Gary Oak!" He heard a slightly arrogant, yet kind, voice say on the other line as his picture came up on the screen.

"Gary!" Brock let out a cry. "Guess what!"

"You finally got a girlfriend?" Gary smirked, he still liked to tease his friends, especially Brock for his misfortune with the ladies and...

"No!" Brock replied, annoyed. "I'm getting married!"

The researcher spit out the coffee that he was drinking.

"You're WHAT!?"

"I'm getting married!"

"To a girl!?"

Brock sweat-dropped at his comment.

"Yeah, with Holly."

"Wow..." Gary seemed to think. "I didn't expect that..."

Brock looked at the 19 year old boy with an amused look, Gary had taken over the lab a few years back and he was now the region's professor, and he didn't hesitate to tell everyone of that fact.

"Can you tell Tracey and Samuel that they're invited to the wedding?" Brock asked eagerly.

Tracey was a 21 year old man that was working as an assistant for professor Oak, but not Samuel Oak though, he was retired but still lived at his lab, Tracey was working for Gary now and he really enjoyed it.

"Sure, don't you wanna tell them that yourself?"

"I really want to, but I'm rather busy right now." Brock tried to explain, but Gary seemed to get what he meant.

"It's okay Brock, I'll be seeing you at the wedding!"

"Yeah!" The breeder sighed out in relief. "Bye!"

"_Now... who's next?_" Brock seemed to think as he gazed through the phone book. "_Misty!_"

He quickly dialed Misty's number and waited for her to pick up.

"Hello, this is the Cerulean Gym, Misty speaking!"

"I'm getting married!" Brock cried out in delight, causing Misty to shriek and jump high up into the air.

"Okay! Whoever you are!" Misty started to yell at the yet unknown caller. "I'm a gym leader, and just because I'm single doesn't it mean that you can come and..."

"Misty, it's me, Brock!" The breeder laughed wholeheartedly at his friend. "I'm getting married to Holly!"

"Yeah, right!" Misty laughed, this was really a strange call. "I know that you want that, Brock, but it's better to ask her first, isn't it?"

Brock growled in frustration, this was not something he had hoped for, he didn't have time for this either.

"Misty, we are inviting you to the wedding and you'll get the invitation through the mail!" He quickly hung up before she had time to respond.

Now Brock closed his eyes as he picked out a number and dialed it as he waited for the call to connect. Soon, somebody picked the phone up and a blunnete appeared on the screen.

"Hi! This is Dawn speaking, how may I help you?"

"Dawn! What's up?"

"Brock? Is that you?" Dawn eyed him curiously. "I haven't seen you in years!"

"Yeah..." Brock felt guilty, it really had been a long time since he last contacted her, but he tried to change the subject quickly. "How's Scott doing?"

Dawn smiled at the mention of her son. "He's doing fine, thank you."

At the age of 15, Dawn had become pregnant. Nobody knew who the father was, but some suspected Paul and others Kenny. But one thing was certain though: Dawn had never felt happier. She was now 17 and Scott was 2 years old, and although he could be a handful at times, she wouldn't have it any other way.

Dawn was no longer a coordinator, she couldn't continue to travel due to her having a child. But she now worked at a company that designed dresses and her pay was good enough that she could support the two of them and still have some leftover, so she was happy in other words.

"But enough about me!" Dawn chirped, even if she had been mostly talking about Scott. "How's your life?"

"Well..." Brock had a hard time hiding his smirk. "Holly and I are getting married!"

Dawn was about to say something, but then she took in his words and her eyes grew as huge as saucers as she eyed him suspiciously.

"You... Holly... married?!" She finally managed to say. "That's great!"

"Thanks!" Brock laughed. "I was about to..."

He got interrupted when he heard a crash that came from the other side of the house, Dawn sighed and looked at the breeder with an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, but I think Scott just broke something, can I call you back?"

"There's no need!" Brock assured her. "I just wanted to tell you that you're invited to the wedding and that you'll get your invitation in your mail!"

"Thanks!" Dawn's eyes shined with excitement. "I'll be seeing you there then!"

"Yeah!" Brock smiled his friendly smile as he watched the young mother end the call. "_Now… Who's next?_"

He looked through the phone book and stopped at a familiar name that started with P.

"_It's been ages since we last talked, but I know that he's more friendly now..._" Brock tried to reason with himself if he should, or shouldn't call the person. "_Ah, what the hell? It's a wedding after all!_" He smiled as he dialed the number to the trainer.

One ring... two rings... Suddenly, somebody answered the phone and a rather strict face with purple hair was shown on the screen, his face seemed to soften a bit as he noticed Brock.

"Brock." Paul greeted him. "What can I do for you?"

"That's it?" Brock asked in a fake-hurt voice. "No 'How ya been?'"

"C'mon Brock." Paul shook his head. "I've a challenger right now, so please make it quick!"

Brock suddenly remembered that Paul's new job was to be the last Frontier Brain in the four regions, he had taken over Brandon's vessel and was flying between the regions, taking on challengers from each frontier facility.

He had changed a lot from the arrogant and rather ill-tempered boy he had been when he was younger, after his defeat in the Sinnoh league he had become a lot humble as well as nicer to everyone. He even took good care of his pokemon now! But Brock still found it a little difficult to talk to him, that's why he wanted to get this call over with as soon as possible.

"Okay." The breeder watched the Pyramid Master for a moment before his face cracked up into a smile. "I'm getting married!"

"Congratulations." Paul nodded. The purple haired man tried to appear emotionless, but you could see his face crack up into a smile along with Brock. "When did it happen?"

"A few hours ago!" Brock stated proudly. "You're one of the first to know!"

"I'm honored." Said the 20 year old male honestly, he watched the breeder for a few seconds before he thought it was time to end the call. "I'm sorry, Brock, but I got to go and finish my battle. I'll be at the Pokemon Center in Cinnabar Island, just in case you need something." He ended the call with a nod and then hung up.

Brock, still feeling slightly puzzled and awkward from the call, saw that there were only two people left to call. He decided to wait with the last one and take the younger of the two first.

He punched in the number to the Hoenn region phone and waited for someone to pick up the phone.

"Hi, Brock!" Exclaimed a boy of about 16. "How'ya been?"

"Very good, Max." Brock smiled at the younger boy, he had certainly grown. "You're not going to believe what have happened!"

"What?" Max asked curiously as he leaned closer to the phone.

"I'm going to get married!" Brock cried out in happiness as he restrained himself from laughing at the expected reaction on Max's face, but it never came...

"Really? Good for you." Max said in a casual tone as he leaned back in the chair. "Anything else?"

"W... what?!" Brock cried out in both surprise and slight anger. "Max! I'm going to get..." He was interrupted as he heard the young man laugh.

"Calm down, Brock!" He laughed as he pointed on his side of the screen on the breeder. "I was only joking, it's great!"

"But... But your reaction..." Brock tried to find the right words as he, at the same time, tried to figure out what was so funny. "What's going on?"

"You seem to have forgotten my sister!" Max smiled mischievously towards the older man. "Don't you remember that she and Holly are like best friends?"

Brock mentally hit himself on the head, how could he forget that?!

Holly and May had met a year or two after the Sinnoh League and hit off right away, they were probably closer than anyone else he knew... almost.

"Let me guess..." Brock sighed with a smile on his face. "Holly asked her to be the maid of honor?"

"You got that right." Max got a painful expression on his face. "My ears still hurts from the squealing!"

Brock chuckled in pity and amusement at the younger boy on the other side of the screen, he had also thought that he had heard a high squeal from the other side of the house as he made some of the calls just now.

"So..." Max snapped Brock away from his thoughts. "I'm the last you're calling?"

"Not really." Brock didn't seem to notice the sweat-drop on Max's head. "I still have one call left to do."

"Let me guess, it's him, isn't it?" Max asked with a tired smile, he was still afraid to mention his name in front of his sister.

"Yeah..." Brock sighed. "Do you know if they're still fighting?"

"I don't know." Max answered honestly. "I haven't talked to him since his mother's funeral."

Brock felt a little pang in his heart as he remembered Delia Ketchum, she was probably the nicest woman he had known, but she had passed away two years ago.

He had never seen Ash that depressed, he stopped talking to other people and soon they started to give up on calling him. Then he disappeared! Many people had tried looking for him, but he was nowhere to be found.

It also happened that there had been a major argument had happened between Ash and May a few years ago, only Ash and May knew the entirely reason for their argument, but both had refused to tell anyone or talk to each other for that matter.

"Anyway." Brock's thought about the wedding did cheer him up a little "I just wanted to tell you that you're invited to the wedding!"

"That's good to hear." Max nodded, but he didn't sound as cheerful as before. "I'll be over a few days before the wedding... When is it?"

"Oh..." Brock groaned silently, he had completely forgotten to tell his friends when the wedding was.

"It will be in about three weeks, we know that it's rather short notice." Brock smiled a little awkwardly. "But we're sure that it will hit off if everybody works together!"

"Yeah, you're right." Max agreed as he seemed to look towards the door on his side of the phone. "My parents are back, I'll tell them that they're invited too!"

"That's great, I'll be seeing you later!" Brock quickly hung up the phone and started to flip through his notebook, he hadn't used that number in such a long time that he had forgotten it.

Finally, he found the number to the Ketchum Residence and dialed it as he waited for somebody to pick up.

One ring... two rings.... three rings....

He sighed and hung up after the fifteenth ring, he knew that he wasn't there, but he was not going to give up that easily.

He could hear his soon-to-be wife enter the room with a smile on her face.

"Hi, dear!" She smiled and kissed his cheek. "My friends were thrilled about the wedding, they can't wait for it!"

"Yeah, neither can mine." Brock seemed a little low, and Holly noticed that.

"Brock, what's wrong?"

"I can't find Ash." Brock placed himself on a chair in the room and buried his head in his hands. "I just can't!"

"Don't worry, Brock." Holly placed herself next to him. "I'm sure that you'll find him eventually!"

"But there's only three weeks before the wedding!" Brock complained slightly, he was starting to think that they had planned their wedding way too fast. "I don't know how I'm going to be able to find him!"

"You can go look for him for a few days." Holly comforted him. "I can take care of most things, and I can ask your mother and sisters for help too!"

Brock looked at his fiancée with tearful eyes, he couldn't believe how blessed he was to have such a great person for a girlfriend (fiancé, he corrected himself mentally).

"Thanks, Holly." Brock got up and hugged her, he then broke the hug and headed out towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Holly asked a rather surprised, was he going to leave already?

"I'm going to find my best man!" Brock exclaimed as he shut the door after himself.

**End of chapter 1**

* * *

**Some things may not be clear in the chapter, but I promise that it will be sorted out later in the story!**

**The story will only be about four chapters, so it's only three left until I'll begin with my pearlshipping story!**

**You may have seen many wedding-stories, but I can promise you that you haven't seen anyone like this (I hope)!**

**It's better to review later than never and I'll be seeing you in the next chapter!**

**R&R!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello! Sorry for the late update (Or is it? I don't remember when I posted this :S) Here's chapter 2!**

**Since the story is so short it will be seemed a little rushed, but just bare with me!**

**R&R**

**Enjoy the chapter!  
**

* * *

_At the Pewter City breeding center.... inside Brock's house...._

* * *

Brock packed his backpack with a somber, yet slightly excited, expression. It had really been a long time since he had been on the road, heck, it had really been a long time since anyone of them had been on the road.

He put his sleeping bag in the backpack and closed it, he was ready.

He said his goodbyes to his family and fiancé, they had already begun to plan the wedding. Brock didn't need to be there, he already knew that they would totally ignore his ideas and requests, but he didn't complain.

He closed the door and took in the scent of summer, it had really been a long time. He began to walk, but after a few meters, he stopped.

He sweat-dropped as he remembered that he had no idea on where Ash could be right now, he could be anywhere!

Brock sighed, his only option was to try and retrace Ash's steps during his journeys... He thought about it, it didn't sound nice, there must be some other option!

"_Gary!_" The word flashed in Brock's head. "_He might know what to do, I think that he's still taking care of Ash's pokemon!_"

He started to walk at a quick pace towards Pallet Town, but it wasn't all that quick though, it had been a long time since he had done any real traveling lately.

As Brock was walking, he started to think on the events that had occurred since he and Ash met up in Sinnoh.

They had met a young girl named Dawn, who had followed them on their trip around the Sinnoh region to learn about pokemon as well as coordinating.

All of them had captured several pokemon, Ash continued to win badges and Dawn continued to win ribbons.

They had met Paul, he and Ash hadn't been friends when they first met, heck, they hated each other up until the Sinnoh League.

"_The Sinnoh League..._" Brock smiled a little at the memory, it had been a good time for everyone there. Well, almost everyone.

Ash had finally got enough badges to compete in the Sinnoh League. Dawn and Brock were there to cheer him on, the blue haired coordinator had managed to reach the top 8 in the Grand Festival which had occurred a week prior.

It started with the preliminary rounds, Ash didn't face any though opponents and moved on without any problems. Barry, however, got defeated by Nando in the first battle and was out of the running.

Paul, Nando and Ash fought with all their might, Ash managed to defeat Nando with two pokemon left in the semi-finals.

It then came to Ash versus Paul in the finals. Ash sent out his Infernape, but Paul countered with his Ursaring. Ash managed to defeat his pokemon but the battle raged on.

In the end it was only Ash's Pikachu against Paul's Electabuzz.

Pikachu took a lot of beating in the beginning, but he then finally made it to turn around and counter-attack Paul's moves with his own.

It was an intense battle, but everyone could see that Paul had the upper hand.

But then it happened, the thing that Ash had always known would happen.

The two pokemon rallied their last inch of strength and started to charge towards each other, they looked each other right into the eyes as Pikachu's Volt Tackle and Electabuzz's ThunderPunch collided with great force.

After the smoke had died down, you could see that both of the pokemon was lying on the ground.

But the finals couldn't have two winners, that's why the first pokemon who stood up would win the whole match.

Ash and Paul started to shout at their pokemon, Ash shouted words of encouragement and Paul shouted... well, you know what he would have shouted...

The crowd could see one of the electric pokemons slowly raise himself up with the encouragement of the crowd, however, Brock and Dawn were biting their nails as the anxiety was getting to them.

After a few seconds, Pikachu stood up, tired, injured and glared at his defeated opponent as Ash ran to him as the referee lowered his flags.

Ash's victory was short lived when Pikachu fainted and had to stay at the Pokemon Center for a few days. Ash had refused to accept the trophy unless Pikachu was with him.

But when Pikachu had recovered, they stood on the podium and was cheered on by the crowd of trainers and spectators, Ash and his pokemon were shining with pride.

After that they parted their ways again, with promises that they would meet and travel once again, but that didn't happen.

Brock returned home and was greeted by his family, and a few years later by Holly. Dawn traveled home to Twinleaf Town and stayed there to rest for a few months.

But Ash went directly to challenge the Sinnoh Elite Four, he wouldn't let this kind of opportunity just slip away.

Truth to be told, nobody expected him to even be able to defeat the first one. That's why you could say that everybody almost died of shock when they heard that Ash was the new Sinnoh Champion.

The story would've ended there, but it didn't. A year after Ash's victory, his mother died. Everybody took it really hard, even those who barely knew her.

All of Ash's friends were at the funeral, they were all there for him and helped him to move on, and the league even refused to take challengers for a month after that, just to show their support for their Champion.

Brock didn't like it, but he slowly started to lose contact with Ash, so did all his other friends.

Soon, it was just a few that had contact with him, but he didn't really know who it was. He knew that Ash had almost recovered fully from his mother's death, but he didn't know why he disappeared.

Brock shook his head, this was taking way too long.

He took forth one red and white orb and threw it into the air.

"Steelix, I need your help!" The breeder shouted as the ball opened and revealed a large, metallic worm with spikes around its body.

The large pokemon roared as a sign to show that he wanted to know his orders.

"Steelix," Brock looked at his first and biggest pokemon. "I need ride to Pallet Town, can you help me? So I can get there faster."

His pokemon nodded and lowered himself so Brock could get on. He then almost flew towards Pallet Town with an incredible speed that some would find impossible for a steel-worm to do.

* * *

_At Pallet Town.... Close to The Ketchum Residence..._

* * *

After just a half hour, that normally should have taken half a day, they had arrived at Ash's house in Pallet Town.

Brock walked up and knocked on the door, he got really surprised when he heard someone walk towards the door.

The door opened and Brock's hope sank down to the bottom of his heart.

In front of him stood Delia's old pokemon that everybody knew as Mr. Mime, or "Mimey" as she had called him.

"Mime?" The pokemon asked a little frightened, he didn't recognize Brock.

"Hey, Mr. Mime." Brock smiled at him. "Don't you remember me? Its me, Brock!"

Suddenly, the pokemon seemed to recognize him, he ran up to the breeder and hugged him with all his might.

"Mr. Mime!" It cheered happily and squeezed the breath out of the poor breeder. "Mr. Mime, mime mime-me!"

"I..." Brock tried to get air. "I don't get what you're talking about Mimey." He coughed as he struggled free from his grip. "Have you seen Ash?"

The pokemon got a dark and sad look and looked towards the ground as he shook his colorful head.

"It's okay." Brock smiled and patted him on the head. "I'm going to Gary and ask him if he knows where Ash has gone, you wanna come with me?"

The pokemon looked at the breeder, then it looked at the broom inside the room, then he looked back at the breeder again.

The pokemon then slowly nodded and pushed Brock gently out of the door as he closed it after them and locked it, and then they started to walk towards Professor Oak's ranch.

* * *

_At professor Oak's ranch.... inside his house...._

* * *

Brock eyed the man in front of him, he was much taller than he remembered. He even had started to have some gray flecks in his hair.

In front of him sat Gary Oak with a worried expression, Samuel and Tracey were in the ranch and were taking care of the pokemon, next to Gary sat Mr. Mime with a hopeful expression.

"Yeah, I've talked to Ash recently..." Gary had changed , he didn't have his spiky hair anymore. His hair was lying flat and he had even grown a little, brown, mustache (Brock had to force himself not to laugh). "But I don't know..."

"Really?" Brock ignored his last sentence and only focused on his first. "Then where is he? How has he been?"

"Calm down, Brock." Gary shook his head calmly. "You need to listen instead before rushing into things."

"But, you said that..."

"I said that I've talked to him." Gary got a firm look on his face. "I haven't seen him, he's at a place where video-phones aren't available."

"But, don't you know where he is?" Brock asked desperately. "I need to know!"

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Gary smirked a little as he tilted his head. "Isn't it enough to just send him a card, or something like that?"

"No." Brock shook his head. "I need to find him, he's my Best Man!"

"I see..." Gary seemed to be in deep thoughts, but Brock could also see a little disappointment on his face, but he just shrugged it off. "Why don't we call May? Wasn't she the one who was closest to him?"

"Do you have a death wish?" Brock more stated than asked. "Because that's what's going to happen if you mention his name in front of her."

Gary groaned. "She's still angry at him?"

"According to Max, yes."

Gary sighed, this was going to be a lot harder than he expected.

"Well, then we have a former Sinnoh Champion missing..."

"Hold on!" Brock cried out. "'Former'? When did that happen!?"

Gary frowned as he looked at the breeder. "Haven't you heard? It's been several years since he lost his title."

Brock was dumbfound, how come he didn't know about that?

"But, who's the champion now?"

"Cynthia." Gary replied calmly as he leaned back in the chair he had placed himself on. "She defeated Barry who had taken the title from Ash and..."

"What!?" The volume of Brock's voice made Mr. Mime and Gary to jump. "Barry defeated Ash!?"

"Seems like it." Gary shrugged and started to pace around the room. "The league committee won't give even the researchers and professors information on how that happened."

"But, what did Ash say?" Brock didn't know why, but he started to feel a little uncomfortable. "You told me that you have talked to him recently."

"I didn't ask." Gary just shrugged and looked at the breeder.

Brock fell down on the floor along with Mimey.

"But how do we find him?" Brock asked as he got up from his position with the help of Gary.

"Well, we CAN figure out his last position by tracing the call..."

"Well, why don't we do that?"

"Because it was five days ago since we last talked to each other, he could be anywhere right now!"

"Isn't he staying at the same place?" Brock asked as he groaned, why did he feel like this was just getting harder and harder?

"Nope, he's traveling between the regions right now. But who knows, we could get lucky." Gary seemed to think for a moment. "I'll go and trace where his last call came from."

"Oka..." Brock got interrupted by Gary once again.

"Done!" Brock sweat-dropped but made his way towards Gary, who was sitting at his computer.

He bent down and looked at the screen and saw some kind of map of the regions.

"There's Kanto." Gary pointed at a region in the left corner of the screen. "And there's Johto." He pointed at the right corner of the screen. "There's Hoenn." He now pointed at the region under Johto. "And there we have Sinnoh." He pointed at the region under Hoenn. He then pointed at the region in the middle of the computer screen. "And there's where Ash's call came from, he's in..."

"Orre!" Brock groaned, how the heck were they going to find him in a region where none of them had been before? "Where did the call come from?"

Gary clicked a few buttons until a new name came up on the screen. "He was calling from Phenac City ."

Brock looked at the mark over the Orre map, it was in the southeast part of Orre.

"Let's call their Pokemon Center and ask if they have seen him there recently." Gary suggested, Brock agreed relieved and watched as Gary dialed the number to the town's center.

"Hello, this is Phenac City's Pokemon Center." Came a woman's voice and then she appeared on the screen, she looked exactly like the other Joys in the other regions... well, for Gary that is.

"Nurse Joy," Gary placed himself in front of the screen so she could get a good look at him. "My name is Professor Gary Oak, I was wondering if you could do me a favor."

"Sure, Mr. Oak." She chirped, it seemed like she knew who he was. "What can I do for you?"

"This might be a strange question." Gary sighed. "About five days ago, a man named Ash Ketchum was staying at the center, do you remember him?"

The two men was surprised to see a blush on the nurse's face, and that she stuttered a little bit.

"Y...yes, I remember A... Ash Ketchum." She giggled a little girlishly and looked down towards the ground, but then her face suddenly grew serious and she looked right at them. "What do you want to know?"

"We were wondering if you know where he is..." Gary prayed that it would work along with Brock. "Did he say anything to you on where he was going to?"

"Actually, he did tell me when I asked." Joy nodded. "He told me that he would be around Outskirt Stand."

Gary quickly pushed in the name and sighed as he saw that it wasn't too far away from the town.

"Did he tell you how long he would be there?"

"He said that he would be there for about two to three weeks before he continued onto his next goal..." She hesitated.

"Okay, thank you!" Gary ended the call and looked at Brock with a sad smile. "Well, we now know where he is."

"Yeah..." Brock sighed. "It's better if we just wait here and then he'll hopefully call you for some other pokemon."

"That's a problem." Gary laughed an empty laugh. "He told me the last time he called me that he wouldn't call for at least another 4 weeks."

Brock put his head into his hands and groaned.

"What am I going to do!?"

"Well..." Gary seemed to hesitate. "You COULD travel to Orre and then to Phenac City and then onto Outskirt Stand."

Brock looked up with a new hope. "You think I can get to Orre in time?"

"If you focus on speed rather than comfort, yes." Gary nodded. "I've a got boat down at the docks in Pallet Town for expeditions; let's just say that it could take you to Orre in two days."

"Then what are we waiting for!?!" Brock sprang up and took Gary's hand and started to pull him towards the door. "C'mon! Let's go and find Ash!"

"Hold on!" Gary tried to struggle, but it was not an easy thing to get away from a rock-trainer's grip. "I haven't packed, I also don't have time to go on a journey and..."

"Don't worry, Gary." Brock and Gary turned to the source of the voice and saw Tracey standing there with a wide smile. "I and Samuel can look after the lab while you're gone, good luck in finding Ash!"

Before Gary could shout 'traitor!' at Tracey, Brock had already dragged him out from the lab, to his house to pack, down to the Pallet Town harbor, on board the boat, and then forced Gary to drive it to Orre.

* * *

_The Orre region.... close to the harbor...._

* * *

Gary muttered something under his breath and refused to talk to Brock during the two days they were traveling to the Orre region harbor, Gateon Port.

But as soon as they saw land Gary started to talking to Brock again like nothing had happened.

"Look, Brock!" Gary shouted over the roar of the great engine. "Gateon Port!"

"What's that!?" Brock shouted with all his might so his voice could be heard. "I haven't ever heard of it!"

"Look at the map!"

Brock walked with little unsteadily and looked at the map on the table, 'Gateon Port' was marked with a red pen, Brock could see that it was the only available port in Orre.

After a few minutes they had docked the boat and got off. They looked around and were astounded at what they saw.

It was hotter than the other regions they had been to, but there were less people here and it was much quieter too.

They could see six big buildings, and there were signs on everyone of them.

The first one was named 'Club Crabby' and was something that looked like a performance stage for a crowd or something like that.

The second was named 'The Herb Shop' with a large sign on it and was a stand in the middle of the town, although it didn't have many customers there.

They saw a giant lighthouse in the harbor, south of Gateon City, it looked there were several people on the roof there and that they were battling or something like that, but it was too far away to see.

The fifth looked like a giant workshop, it was full of spare-parts and wheels all over the place and they could hear banging noises from it.

It was the last building that got their attention, the white walls and red roof looked as inviting as always as they walked towards the Pokemon Center, hopeful to hear any news about their lost friend.

The inside of the center looked like every other one does, it had a desk at one of the walls and some benches, but they were confused to see that there was barely anyone here.

They walked up to the nurse that who was reading a magazine about pokemon coordinating, they recognized May on the front cover, the nurse looked really bored.

"Umm, Nurse Joy?" Gary hesitated, he didn't feel comfortable in this region. "Hello?"

Joy snapped away from her deep thoughts and looked around wildly in the room, that was until she spotted the two young men in front of her.

"Hello! What can I do for you?" She chirped and put down her magazine and stood up. "You need to turn in your pokemon?"

"No, thanks." Gary shook his head. "We're just wondering if you could tell us how to get to Phenac City as fast as possible."

"Well, you're lucky!" The nurse smiled, we have a caravan that's going passes through Phenac City! It's leaving in a few minutes."

"Thanks..." Gary was about to walk away but was halted by Brock, there was one thing more the breeder wanted to ask the nurse.

"Nurse Joy." He had a confused look on his face. "Why isn't there anyone here?"

"Oh..." Joy got an embarrassed look on her face. "Well... you see, it's a newly opened Pokemon Center, and people are suspicious of it."

Brock nodded understanding, but now it was his turn to be dragged away by Gary, they didn't have any time to waste.

They walked around the town before they spotted something that looked like a caravan of some sort, even if it just was just a procession of three cars and five men. The men looked like they were loading supplies on the jeeps, and when Gary and Brock asked if they could come they agreed hesitatingly and let them onto one of the cars.

Brock watched the surroundings as the sound of the cars almost made him incapable of thinking. He saw desert, desert, desert and.... more desert...

The breeder sighed, why in Arceus's name would Ash be doing in a place like this?

* * *

_In the deserts of Orre.... close to Phenac City_

* * *

He saw a town approach them and nudged Gary rather roughly in the stomach, he had been sleeping during the whole trip.

Gary looked up groggily and saw the town come closer and closer, but it looked more like a fortress than a town.

The cars stopped and all the men were looking at them with a frown plastered on their faces.

"We're here." Were the only words they got from a big, muscular and tanned man as he made a motion towards the town.

Brock and Gary thanked them for the ride and walked in. They didn't get a respond from the drivers as they just took off with a great speed.

Brock and Gary entered the town and gasped.

The town was rather small, but it was built around a desert oasis. The city was surrounded by a wall that kept the harsh desert winds away and most of the buildings in the city were built of stone.

In the center of town was a large, ornamental fountain that served as both decoration and a rich display of Phenac's water supply.

They looked around and saw a lot of houses, but they could also see some sort of stadium and gym, there was also a Poké Mart and a Pokemon Center.

There were more people here than in the other town, but this town was a little bigger than the ones before. But it felt like the people inside the town were looking at Brock and Gary in a suspicious way, that made them feel really uncomfortable.

They hurried towards the Pokemon Center and almost ran inside , they really, really didn't like the stares.

The Pokemon Center was an exact copy as the previous one, it was hard even for Brock to tell the difference between them.

"Nurse Joy!" Gar called and walked up to the woman. "You remember me? I'm Gary Oak."

"Right!" Joy almost yelled with a broad smile. "You're the one who knows Ash Ketchum!"

At those words of several people, most of them were women, looked in their direction and some even walked up to them.

"You know Ash Ketchum? Where's Ash? How's he doing? Does he have a girlfriend?"

They were bombarded by questions from several females around the age of twenty, Brock had to force himself not to start crying.

"Calm down!" Gary shouted, he was at least used to get attention from several beautiful girls around his age. "We don't know where Ash is! We're here to look for him!"

Disappointed, the girls walked away one by one until it was only Brock, Gary and Nurse Joy left.

"You really know Ash?" Asked the nurse after a while, as Brock and Gary tried to recover from their last experience.

"Yeah, but what's the deal with him here?" Brock frowned. "I know that he was the former Sinnoh Champion, but isn't this a little too much?"

"He was the Sinnoh Champion?!" Nurse Joy asked in surprise, causing Brock and Gary to fall down anime-style.

"You didn't know?" Gary groaned. "Then, what's the deal with him?!"

"Oh..." Joy looked down towards the floor, blushing. "I... I don't really know how to explain that..."

"Try." Gary encouraged her. "We need to find him."

"I don't want to explain, it's too embarrassing." Nurse Joy explained as she saw their confused looks. "The last time anyone saw him here, he told us that he was going to Outskirt Stand, try and look there."

"Don't worry, we will." Gary smiled as he dragged away the sulking Brock from the center.

"Wait!" Joy called after them. "The heat is really dangerous on this time of year!"

"Don't worry!" Gary just waved it off. "We're used to traveling!"

The nurse sighed as she sat down on her chair, why wouldn't anyone listen to her?

* * *

"Are you sure that we're ready?" Gary asked the breeder a little worried, he was starting to regret that he didn't had used any violence when Brock dragged him away. "Do we have everything we need?"

"Let's see..." Brock started to search his pack. "Map, checked; water, checked; food, checked...."

Gary sighed and stopped listen as Brock ranted on and about how much he had packed, it took ten minutes extra until they was away.

The people looked relieved when they saw the two strangers walk away, they surely didn't like any strangers here, it was for the best if only people from their city were here, who knew what kind of criminals would come around!

* * *

_Unknown position.... between Phenac City and Outskirt Stand..... _

* * *

Brock and Gary had been walking for two days now, it had been perfectly fine in the beginning, but after the first day their water and food had been exhausted(They ate and drank a little too much than they did before), and they too were starting to feel exhausted.

"Come on, Brock." Gary panted as he could barely stand. "It's not far yet to our destination!"

"That's what you told me a day ago." Brock cried out with a dry voice. "Why am I going to die just two weeks before my wedding?!"

"You're not going to die, Brock." Gary almost fell... again. "We will find Ash, and we will make it back in time to your wedding."

"Speak for yourself!" Brock could feel the last bit of water in him build up in his eyes. "We're going to die out here, there's nothing anywhere!"

"Don't talk like that!" Gary snapped, but he quickly regretted it as he felt like he lost half of his energy doing so. "We're going to be fine, let's just keep going."

"I... I can't." Brock fell down to his knees and started to pant. "I just wanted to give Holly the wedding of her dreams, I just wanted all of my friends to be there for us!"

"And you shall!" Gary cried out and gripped Brock under his arms and pulled him up. "Let's go, I'm sure that we'll be there soon."

"You.... you're right." Brock whispered as he stood on shaky legs. "If we just keep our spirits up, we're going to make it!"

"That's the wa...." Gary couldn't talk anymore as he fainted by exhaustion.

"Gary!" Brock knelt beside him. "Come on, wake up!"

The breeder cursed himself as he felt the tiredness wash over him, why didn't any of them bring pokemon that could stand the heat? Or at least make water for them?!

It darkened for the man's eyes as he felt his life slowly drift away. Suddenly, the sand didn't feel so hot anymore, it felt really inviting and soft...

Brock fell on the sand with his eyes closed and the last drop of liquid in his body was saliva that hung out from his mouth.

* * *

A Pidgey was flying over the dessert, high up in the air wasn't as hot as on the ground, so the bird was okay.

He continued to fly for a while until he saw two small spots on the ground, he slowly started to approach them from the air.

He hesitated a little as he saw that it was two humans that were there, but maybe they had food for him?

He continued to drift down as he landed next to them, he walked up to the one with some kind of hair in his face that Pidgey had seen on some other humans. He pecked him a little but didn't like the taste of him, so the little bird skipped happily over to the other, little darker, human and started to look at him curiously.

Pidgey picked on the saliva that was hanging from the man's mouth and chirped happily as he felt his thirst cool down a little.

The bird was about to peck on some white crack that was on face-haired man's face, but then he heard some kind of roaring noise come towards him. But it was too far away for him to notice it so he started trying to open up the little hole so he could come to the soft, white surface on the man's face.

The roaring sound came now closer, but the bird still ignored it, he was really close to feel the white surface and he didn't want to stop just to take a look around.

He was delighted when he saw that it was some kind of dark dot in the middle of the soft, white material, but when he was about to peck it something happened.

Pidgey's quick reflexes noticed the sound that came from behind him and shoot up with an incredible speed towards him, he barely dodged the cat's claw.

But when he was about to do a counter-attack he felt thousands volts of electricity course through his body, he screamed in pain and began to fly away as fast as he could, away from that lunatic with pokemon.

The cat-like pokemon cursed the bird, he had been so close to taking him down and he got away! He looked at his master with a worried look, but got relieved when he saw the soft smile that his master sent him.

He still couldn't believe how much his master had changed from since he first met him, but one thing did he know: He liked the changed.

The cat looked at his companion, the little mouse patted him on the back, causing the cat to smile.

"That was a close one, Meowth, I didn't expect him to fly away." Said the man to his pokemon. "I'm sure that it will go better next time."

"Oh yeah?!" The cat, Meowth, answered him. Meowth had noticed the little, mocking tone from his trainer. "Well, I would've struck him down if it weren't for Pikachu's interruption!"

"Pikachu! PikaPi!" Countered the mouse, Pikachu, with his tongue out. "Pika!"

"He's right, Meowth." The man smirked. "You hadn't been able to reach him when he was so high up in the air."

"Well, I could have tried, couldn't I?"

"Of course, and you probably would've succeed. But what do you guys say about us getting back to camp? It has been a long day."

"Yeah, but what do we do with those two?" Meowth asked and made a gesture towards the two, fainted men. "They seems pretty knocked-out to me."

"Are they dead?" He asked his rodent.

Pikachu skipped towards them and frowned at the stench they were showing, but they weren't dead.

"Pi." It shook its little head and then jumped onto its master's shoulder.

"I see...." The man thought, was it worth to bring them back? Nah...

"Let's go." He started to walk away from them, that was until he heard one of them talk in their unconsciousness.

"Holly..." The tanned man whispered in his dreams "I love you..."

The man sighed, why did it always be 'I love you there' and 'I love you that'? Couldn't it just be some normal travelers that got unlucky?

"Well..." The man spoke to his two pokemon. "Since we now know that they're alive for sure it would be a crime to not help them, so help me load them on the bike."

"You and your stupid bike..." Meowth mumbled. "Why didn't you just get a car?"

"Because cars are for sissies." The man growled. "And if you ever speak bad about my bike again I'll place you in a pokeball and send you to Oak's storage so he can do research on you!"

Meowth only stuck his tongue out and ran towards the motorcycle.

The bike was black and the design was in such a way that it reduced wind resistance as you drove at high speeds, it looked exactly like the standard model, except there was a little 'dent' in the gas tank so a little pokemon could sit in it, a little mouse in other words (I don't really know how to explain it, just look up "Yamaha YZF-R1" on google and imagine it black and then add the little hole on the gas tank for Pikachu!)

"Pikachu Pi?" The little mouse asked a little worried, he didn't want to give up his seat.

"Don't worry, Pikachu." Ash comforted him. "I'm not going to give them your seat, Pidgeot will take care of them."

With those words he threw a red and white ball into the air and summoned his giant bird pokemon Pidgeot.

"Pidgeooot!" The pokemon yelled as it dived up and then down, it felt nice to stretch his wings.

"Pidgeot!" The man called to his pokemon. "We need you to take these tow these guys to the camp, you think you can do it?"

The bird nodded and gripped the two men with his claws as he flew towards their camp.

"You think he'll make it?" The cat asked a little worried as he looked at his flying friend. "the two guys are rather heavy."

"He'll make it." The man simply said and seated himself on the motorcycle. "Let's go, guys!"

Pikachu quickly jumped into the little hole on the gas tank and Meowth placed himself in front of the man.

"You ready?" The man smirked, he loved this part.

"Pedal to the metal, Ash!" Meowth cheered and clutched the bike.

Ash geared up the engine as he took off, the sand flew as the 998 cc, liquid-cooled, 16-valve, DOHC, in-line four-cylinder engine with "crossplane" style crankshaft motorcycle plowed through it.

"_The max-speed of this bike should be 300 km/h.... luckily there isn't any speed limit here..._" Ash thought with a smile as they jumped over a small dune of sand on their way to their camp.

**End of chapter 2  
**

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* * *

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**I've always thought that Ash needed a motorcycle ^^ I hope that you didn't mind that I added Meowth in his team, but Ash really needs somebody like him!**

**R&R and I'll be seeing you in the next chapter!**

**It's better to review later than never!  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's chapter 3, guys! I'm sorry that this is late... too... but both me and my corrector have been really busy with different things, but I've turned in the forth chapter to him and I'm currently half way through the fifth!**

**There is maybe some people who's not going to like what Ash has 'done', but then they just doesn't need to read the story anymore ^^**

**Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review at the end of the story!**

**R&R!  
**

* * *

Brock woke up with a start, he looked around frightened and groggily.

He looked at his clothes and was surprised to see that they were... wet? What happened?

"Am I dead?" He asked nobody particular as he slowly brought the world back into focus.

"You would be, if I had found you ten minutes later." Brock jumped up and looked around in both surprise and suspicion.

"Who's there?!" He demanded as he felt for one of his pokeballs in his pocket. "Who are you?"

"Is that a way to treat a man that saved your life?" The voice asked in a bored tone, Brock could hear that it was deep, yet clear. "I could have just left you there and then spared me a lot of trouble."

"You're right, I'm sorry." Brock apologized as he sat himself down again. "I'm just confused."

"And plain stupid." The voice stated. "You just let your guard down to a complete stranger and haven't even asked where your pokemon is."

Brock realized that the man was right and found that his pokeballs were gone, he was starting to get nervous.

"What do you want me?!" He asked terrified. "Where's my pokemon? And where's Gary?!"

"Gary?" Brock didn't notice the change in the man's tone. "Was that the name of the man that was with you?"

"Yes!" Brock shouted. "Where is he? What have you done to him!?"

"Look behind you..." The voice sighed and yawned.

Brock looked at the place that where he had lain and got a cheerful expression on his face, Gary laid just a meter from him... but the expression soon changed to one of worry.

"What's wrong with him?" He asked the unknown voice, frightfully. "Why isn't he moving?"

"Dehydrated." The man stated with a bored tone. "Lapras, mind freshening him up?"

Out of nowhere came a jet of water and washed over both Brock and Gary, Brock was about to shout at the voice... that was until he saw Gary move.

"Gary!" Brock knelt down to him. "Are you alright?"

"What kind of question is that....?" He heard the man mumble. "He has been out in the desert without anything to eat or drink for days...."

Brock ignored the voice and shook his friend.

"Brock..." Came a weak voice from the researcher. "Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me Brock!" Brock smiled, he didn't notice the sound the man made behind him. "You're going to be alright!"

"I'm not dead?"

"No, we got saved by..." Brock seemed to think, then he turned towards the voice. "Who are you?"

"Why do you want to know?" Asked the voice with a bored tone.

Brock was about to respond, then he heard a dry sound come from Gary's throat, as he tried to say something. But Brock didn't get what he was trying to say before Gary fainted again.

"Gary!"

"Let him rest." Said the man. "He needs his rest."

"Who are you?" Brock asked again.

"Does it matter?"

"It would help, yes." Brock nodded, still not taking his eyes from Gary.

"Look at me, if you recognize me you can say my name. But if you don't... well, then you don't need to know." The man said with a calm voice.

Brock felt that he had got his vision back to the fullest now, so he looked around on his surroundings for the first time.

They were at a camp, so much did he know. He could see the pokemon "Lapras" float around in a little oasis, the sea creature seemed a little bigger, and more beautiful, than the normal variety as she floated around there peacefully.

Brock continued to look around and saw a great, big turtle, with a tree on its back, lie only a few meters behind him, the Torterra had provided Brock and Gary with shade when they were out cold.

There was also a make shift tent of sorts a few meters in front of him(which was just a blanket propped at its corners with some sticks). Under the 'tent' laid a little cat-pokemon that Brock recognized as a Meowth, next to him was a Pidgeot that appeared to be in a deep sleep.

"I think we can skip the introductions." The man yawned from his hidden corner. "The only thing you need to know is that it was Pidgeot here that carried both of you to my camp."

"T... thanks." Brock stuttered a little, he felt uncomfortable when he was surrounded by such powerful pokemon with a person he couldn't even see. "Is that all the pokemon you've got?"

"No, I've this little guy with me too." He said with a tired voice.

Brock was confused, he didn't see any other pokemon about, that was until he felt something land on his head. The breeder cried out in surprise and fell to the ground, only to find a little rodent laughing on his head.

"Pika!" The little pokemon greeted and shook the breeders ear. "Pika, Pikachu!"

"Nice to meet you too, Pikachu." The tanned man almost whispered. "I'm Brock."

He slowly got up and looked at the pokemon again, he counted them a frowned a bit.

"I thought that you would've six pokemon, don't you have more than five?"

"Look under you..." Brock could swear on that he had heard the man growl.

But he didn't think too much on that as he felt the ground under him start to shake, he quickly ran from that spot as a huge form appeared from the ground.

"Garchomp!" The pokemon roared as it flew up a few meters into the air, before it landed in front of the startled breeder.

"Calm down, Garchomp." The voice said. "You don't need to attack him... yet."

The pokemon relaxed a little, but continued to glare suspiciously at the breeder with his two eyes narrowed menacingly.

Brock gulped a little and slowly started to walk towards Gary, he wanted to wake him up and leave as soon as they could.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming towards him and he then looked at the ground that showed a big shadow, he followed it and came to a pair of black boots, looking up he saw a dark brown, traveling trench-coat, he followed it and came to a face that was covered with a light brown Stetson-hat, the shadow concealing his face

Brock slowly got up to his feet and could see that the man was as tall as him, if not a little more. The man was well built and, even through his coat, you could see that he had muscular arms. He had black, fingerless gloves and his skin, the little that you could see from it, were a lighter shade than Brock's.

"Are you satisfied?" The man asked with his clear and deep voice.

Brock snapped out of his thoughts. "What?"

"You wanted to see me, are you satisfied now?" The man asked with another hidden yawn. "So would you leave my camp now?"

"But... my friend." Brock made a shaking gesture towards Gary. "H.. he needs to rest."

The man turned his head to look at Gary, Brock could see that he had raven black hair that was tied up in a little pony-tail.

"It's the warmest time of the day, right now." The man slowly said. "You, and your friend, can stay here for a while."

"Thank you." Brock said sincerely."We owe you our life!"

"I don't need them." The man said in a silent, nonchalant, tone. "I want you out of here early tomorrow, go and get some rest."

Brock nodded and ran towards the place that Gary laid and then laid himself down to rest, Brock fell asleep almost immediately.

Ash took off his hat, so the bangs of his hair fell a little in his eyes, why did all sorts of problems come to him?

"Pika, pi?" The little rodent asked as he skipped up on its master's shoulder.

"No, they didn't recognize me." Ash shook his head. "At least not Brock, I don't know about Gary... he might have recognized my voice."

"So, what are you going to do with them?" Meowth asked as he walked up to Ash and placed himself next to him. "You know, we could make them 'disappear'."

Ash seemed to think of it for a moment, but then he shook his head. "No, it's not necessary, we're just going to wait until they leave, and then we'll move on to the city north of here."

"You're the boss." Meowth shrugged and fell backwards so he was lying down. "I'm going to get some sleep, wake me up when they're awake."

"Why? You're going to challenge them to a poker-game?" Ash asked with a smirk.

"Maybe..." The cat mumbled and closed his eyes.

Ash looked at his longtime partner. "I think it's time to prepare camp for the night."

"Pika." Pikachu nodded and jumped off his shoulder to help prepare the camp.

Ash got up and recalled Lapras from the lake, he thanked her for her help, he then returned Pidgeot as well.

"Torterra." Ash called on his pokemon.

The big earth-turtle lifted himself from his laying-spot and walked up towards its master, leaving Gary and Brock in the sun.

"I need you to use Leaf Storm on one spot, you think you can do it for me?" Ash asked with a calm smile.

The pokemon nodded and sent out hundreds of leaves in front of his trainer.

Ash thanked his pokemon and recalled him, then he turned to Garchomp who stood patiently awaiting his orders.

"You found the things you were looking for?"

The land-shark pokemon nodded and threw a huge amount of dry wood on the pile of leafs.

"Very good, mind lighting it up with a weak flamethrower?"

Garchomp spit out a little sparkle that landed in the leafs, it started to burn immediately and soon the whole pile of wood and leaves were burning.

Ash thanked Garchomp and recalled him, he then put on his hat and lifted Meowth and Pikachu up and carried them to the fire.

* * *

He looked up and saw that the sun was almost setting, he needed to get everyone close to the fire if they didn't want to freeze to death. Ash groaned as he saw that Brock and Gary only had light clothes on them, they had nothing that could keep them warm...

Ash just shrugged and let them be, if it got cold enough they would wake up and come to the fire... and if they didn't.... well, then it wasn't his problem.

A few hours later, Ash felt a little, cool, breeze on his neck as his front was warmed by the fire.

He looked at the sleeping rodent and cat, it would've been much easier if they just wanted to go into their balls, but neither of them wanted to do that.

Ash heard a groaning sound and saw one of the exhausted men move, he saw that Brock had awakened and looked around groggily.

The breeder then shuddered and spotted Ash and his camp, Ash could see the annoyed look Brock got as he was dragging the sleeping Gary towards the fire.

"You know," The breeder started. "You could actually have woken us so we could come to the fire just now."

"Not my problem." Ash just stated as he continued to stare into the fire, both Meowth and Pikachu had woken up due to the noise.

"What do you mean 'Not my problem'!?" Brock asked in anger. "We could have frozen to death!"

"I've already saved your life once." Ash just stated as his eyes wouldn't leave the fire. "And you can only blame yourself for not bringing warmer clothes."

"About that..." Brock hesitated. "How come, that you can wear that coat in the day? It seems pretty warm."

"It's warm in the night and cold in the day." Ash answered him with his dark voice as the cackling fire made it sound even scarier.

"I see..." Brock didn't quite get the man's reasoning, but he didn't dare to ask anymore on the matter. "So, what do you do for a living?"

"Jobs." Ash was starting to get annoyed due to Brock's never-ending questions.

"What kind of jobs?"

"Protection, mercenary for hire and so on." Ash growled.

"M... mercenary?!" Brock thought he heard wrong.

"Yes." Ash wouldn't actually call it that, but as long as the breeder would be quiet, he would call it whatever he pleased.

"I... I see..." Brock felt really uncomfortable, that's why he was relieved when he saw Gary showed signs of waking up. "Gary!"

"Where... where am I?" The researcher asked in confusion as he looked around, he got a little startled as he saw the tall, dark and mysterious man on the other side of the fire. "Who's he!?"

"He's the man who saved us..." Brock hesitated. "Excuse me, but what IS your name?"

"Does it matter?" Brock couldn't help but notice that the voice had changed a little. "Tomorrow we will part ways, and we'll probably not see each other anymore."

"But.... where are you going?" Gary asked a little insecure, he was still slightly afraid of the anonymous man.

"Does it matter?"

"It would be nice to know, yes."

The man sighed. "You're as unhealthily curious as your friend there... I don't know where I'm going, I'll go where the winds leads me."

"Who are you?" Brock tried to change back to the previous subject. "Even if we won't see you again, we want to know your name."

"I'm only a lonely wanderer, nothing more." Ash stated with a calm voice as he leaned back. "I don't have a home, my only friends are my pokemon, and I don't stay in one place for more than a month."

"You travel a lot?" Gary wanted to change the subject, he wasn't as curious as Brock was on finding out who the stranger was.

"Yes." The man seemed to like the short answers.

"Then maybe you can help us." Brock seemed to get what Gary was talking about and his mood lifted. "We're looking for a friend of ours, his name's Ash Ketchum, ever heard of him?"

They didn't notice how the man shifted in his seat, slightly uncomfortable.

"Ash Ketchum? Why would he be out here?"

"Somebody told us that he was out here somewhere." Brock joined the conversation as he looked curiously at the two pokemon. "He used to have a Pikachu, just like you!"

"Who said that he would be out here?" The man asked ,a threatening edge to his voice.

"Nurse Joy." Gary smiled, maybe the man would soften up if he mentioned a person that took care of pokemon.

"Nurse Joy...?" The man seemed to be in deep thought. "Was it the one with, or without, the birthmark on her inner thigh?"

There was an awkward silence...

"WHAT!?!" Brock and Gary shouted at the same time. "How would you know if one of them has, or doesn't have, a birthmark on her inner thigh?!"

They swore that they could see a very faint blush on the man's face.

"If you only know what you can do with words and looks." The man replied calmly. "If you travel a lot, then you'll meet many women."

"How old are you?" Brock demanded to know. Even if the breeder was going to get married he wanted to know how a complete stranger could achieve something that he had failed to do in his whole lifetime.

"How old do you think I am?" The man asked bored, he had lost interest in talking with them again.

"I don't know... 25?"

"Then I'm twenty five." The man simply said as he leaned back a little from the fire, you could now see his brown eyes. "Why were you looking for Ash Ketchum?"

"Well, you see..." Brock tried to explain. "I'm going to get married... and I want him to be my Best Man!"

"You? Married?" The stranger asked with surprise in his voice. "I've a hard time believing it."

"Why!?" Brock shouted out loud.

"Sorry?"

"Why does everyone have a hard time believing that I'm getting married!?!" Brock cried out so loud that Gary had to cover his ears with his hands.

"People maybe have a hard time believing that a horny breeder like you is getting married." The man just stated with his calm voice.

Brock only looked at him, puzzled.

"I didn't say I was a breeder."

If it had been a little lighter outside, you would've been able to see the 'Oh, shit!'-look that Ash had on his face.

"Who are you?!" Brock now demanded. "Tell me!"

"Geez... keep it down, will ya?" Came the voice from the little cat.

"A talking Meowth!?" Brock and Gary cried out. "The only talking Meowth I know is...."

The breeder and researcher looked at the stranger with wide eyes.

"You're with Team Rocket!!" The quickly jumped up and started to search their pockets for their pokeballs. "What have you done with our pokemon?!"

The man sighed, were they really that naive?

"Oh yeah," The man said with his voice filled with sarcasm. "I stole your pokeballs when you were asleep and sent them to my secret lair..."

"Give them back! Now!" Brock cried out and took a threatening step towards the stranger. "If you don't want anything bad to happen to you!"

"Umm..." The cat decided to speak again. "Not to burst your bubble, Old Twerp, but you're both outnumbered and don't have any pokemon..."

Brock realized it and sat himself down in frustration and groaned into his hands. "Why me!?"

"Act like a man, then you'll get your pokemon back." The stranger said with a calm voice. "I only took them to see if they were okay."

With those words, he threw a brown sack to them that contained all of their pokemon.

Brock and Gary took their pokeballs quickly and called out every pokemon, to see if they were okay. After they had done that, they sighed in relief and recalled them.

"Well..." Gary had an apologetic smile on. "We now know that you're not a bad guy, but why do you have Team Rocket's Meowth?"

"Yeah, and why can he speak without that weird little accent?" Brock joined in with his question.

"He just learned to talk without problem..." The man answered. "And when I got him...well, that's probably a story that you'll never hear about."

"Who are you?" Brock asked his question once again.

"That's probably the fifth time you've asked that question in five minutes..." The man growled as he clenched his fists. "I won't tell you."

"You'll tell us!" Brock exclaimed and stood up. "You got Meowth, and you seem to know Ash, and I think that you also know where Ash is! So tell us!"

"Make me." The man smirked under his hat as he remained seated, but both he and his pokemons were ready to spring into action at any moment.

"Blissey! Let's go!" Brock shouted as he summoned his large, egg shaped, pokemon to his side.

"Bliss, Blissey!" His pokemon cried out happily as she looked around.

"Oh, shit..." Ash mumbled, but it wasn't because of the possibility of battling.

"Okay, Blissey, I want you to use..." Brock got interrupted when he saw his pokemon hurry over to the stranger and give him a great... hug!?

"Get... it... off.... me...." The man mumbled as he tried to remove the crazy pokemon from him. "Pikachu, Meowth, take it down!"

But before they could do anything they were stopped... by Gary.

"Hmm...." He had somehow approached the man and his pokemon without anyone noticing. "It's said that Blissey can feel the source of sadness from one kilometer away, and when she does, she'll instantly run towards the source and try to comfort it... but this seems a little more than just that... have you ever met Blissey before?"

"How could he?" Brock asked dumbfound about the events that occurred in front of him. "I've had Blissey since she was an egg..."

Brock didn't get to say anymore as Blissey accidentally knocked off the man's hat, showing his long, spiky black hair to fall down over his eyes.

Brock and Gary gasped, they would've never thought of that this stranger was the boy they once met... the boy with the warm, brown eyes, the boy with the spiky hair, the kind boy that would do anything for anyone...

"Ash!" The both cried out as they saw the trainer, along with his pokemon, get away from the insane egg formed... thing.

"Meowth, use Slash!" Ash called out as he finally was able to push away Blissey.

But before Meowth's claw had made impact with the pokemon, Brock had already recalled her with a dumbfound look on his face.

Ash picked up his hat, turned around, and was about to explain, but then he got knocked down by a group-hug from Gary and Brock.

"I knew it!" Gary cried out. "I knew that I recognized your voice!"

"Pikachu." Ash's muffled voice gave Meowth a surprised, but Pikachu knew exactly what he was supposed to do.

"PikaaaCHUUU!!" Was the sound as the little rodent sent several volt through the three men that were laying on the ground.

Brock and Gary had a hard time moving after that attack, but Ash just stood up as though nothing had happened.

"Thanks, buddy." He patted the little rodent on the head and earned a contented coo.

"A... Ash..." Brock tried to speak, making the trainer to turn to him.

"Yes?"

"How did you get Nurse Joy!?" Brock was now up and at was lying prostrate at Ash's feet. "Please! Tell me your secret!"

"Weren't you supposed to be getting married?" Ash asked with a frown as he looked down at the breeder.

"I just want to know!" Brock cried. "I've tried to find the secret of the ladies my whole life... and now you've come and tell me that you've found it!"

"It's not a secret, Brock." Ash shook his head. "I'm just quite lucky with the ladies..."

"'quite'...?" Gary mumbled as he got up on unsteady legs. "Every woman here in Orre is after you, you know that?"

Ash just shrugged. "Not really."

Brock made a motion towards the fire. "Ash, sit down, we need to talk."

"What have we been doing the whole time, then?" Ash asked with a slight puzzled look as he picked up his hat, that had again fallen of his head when he was tackled, and dusted it off.

"Yeah, but then we didn't know that you were you..." Brock said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. "Why did you do that by the way?"

"I just want to be alone..." Ash sighed as he placed himself on the ground once again, Meowth and Pikachu guarding his sides. "Is it too much to ask for?"

"Come on, Ash." Gary shook his head. "We've been talking over the phone since you left, but you've never told me what's bothering you."

"What's bothering me...?" Ash asked breathless, he looked at them like they were idiots. "Don't you know anything?"

"Only that you and May had a big argument and that you lost your title to Barry." Brock said without thinking, he backed away slightly as he saw the dark look Ash got.

"I did NOT lose the title to Barry..." Ash growled as he glared at the breeder. "He didn't even earn it!"

"Please, Ash." Brock pleaded. "Tell us."

The trainer sighed as he rubbed his eyes due to tiredness.

"Okay, what do you want to know?"

"Start with how you got Meowth!" Gary interrupted Brock, the researcher got a glare from the breeder for that.

"I caught him." Ash stated simply.

There was a moment of silence.

"... what...?"

The hat wearing trainer sighed.

"It all started...."

* * *

_Four years earlier... somewhere in the forests of Kanto..._

* * *

The raven haired trainer walked, still saddened as his mother had recently passed away, with Pikachu at his side.

Ash felt like he was going to break down any moment, he felt a feeling that he had never felt before; sadness? Yes, but it wasn't just that; Hate? No, it was nobody's fault; Joy? Absolutely not; Revenge? No, he didn't know why he would do that; He just couldn't get what this feeling was, he had no idea and that made him furious.

Suddenly, the ground beneath them gave in and made Ash and Pikachu to fall into the hole.

"W... what happened?!" Ash called to his pokemon, Pikachu just coughed and shrugged its little shoulders.

"Prepare for trouble!" A woman with red hair came out from the bushes.

"Make it double!" A man with blue hair and a feminine face followed her.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket, blasting off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth! That's right!" A little cat came out from nowhere and jumped in between them.

"Wow..." Was the only thing Ash could say after a while.

"Look, he's so astounded by our motto!" James claimed proudly. "I knew that the practice would help!"

"That..." Ash tried to find the right words. "Was really gay..."

The trio fell down as Pikachu rolled around and laughed.

"I hate it but that twerp has just hit puberty!" Jessie complained as she summoned a pokeball. "But we won't let him go that easily!"

"Dat's right!" Meowth shouted. "Now, hand us your Pikachu!"

"Seriously, guys." Ash sighed. "My mother died a while ago, can't you just give me a break?"

James halted a bit. "That would actually seem fair..." He got smacked in the back of his head by Jessie.

"You idiot!" She scolded him. "Let's grab Pikachu!"

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt them."

Pikachu sent off a not-so-strong bolt of electricity on them.

Team Rocket screamed in pain for a while, but then they were surprised to see that they hadn't been sent flying.

"Look, we're not blasting off!" James said happily. "Maybe his Pikachu is tired."

"Or maybe you should retire?" Ash sighed. "Seriously, I've climbed out of the hole, attacked you with Pikachu, made sure that he wouldn't blast you away and you haven't even sent out a pokemon?"

Team Rocket got embarrassed looks on their faces as they realized that he was speaking the truth.

"Let's battle the twerp!"

But before they could react, something else happened.

"Pikachu! Use your strongest Thunderbolt and Infernape, use Flamethrower!" Ash shouted as he threw a pokeball towards Team Rocket.

Pikachu roared with a little, yet commanding, voice as he sent out a very powerful bolt of thunder towards Team Rocket.

The Rocket's cried out in pain before they were blasted off, but Ash couldn't hear what they said.

The trainer had his thought on another matter though, like why Infernape hadn't come out from his ball.

Ash bent down and picked up the ball that was laying on the ground, still confused why his pokemon hadn't appeared.

"Infernape, it isn't dangerous anymore, you can come out now."

The ball opened and a white flash was formed into... Meowth!?

"What the hell!?" Ash cried out. "I caught YOU!?"

"YOU caught ME!?" Meowth cried out, equally surprised and terrified as Ash. "Release me, at once!"

"Sorry, no can do!" Ash smirked, it was finally time for him to get revenge for the last five years.

"What are you talking about!?!" Meowth cried out in anger as Pikachu started to poke him. "You can't just keep me!"

"Why not? I've always wanted a Persian!"

Meowth got a really scared look on his face.

"Ya... ya mean dat ya want me to evolve!? I won't let ya do dat!"

"Hmm, then I guess I'll settle with a Meowth then." Ash shrugged and picked up the ball. "It's time for you to return!"

"Please..." Meowth got tears in his eyes as he saw the ball. "Don't let me inside it again, I can't stand the feeling!"

Pikachu looked at him with sympathetic eyes, he knew exactly what Meowth was talking about, and Ash noticed that.

"Fine... but if you try something, I'll put you in the ball, okay?"

"Fine by me!" Meowth said happily. "So, how do we find Jessie and James?"

"Forget it, you're my pokemon and I won't you let you be a criminal again." Ash shook his head. "I'm going to train you in both manners and strength."

"I don't want to!" Meowth cried out once again. "I want to go back to Team Rocket! To Jessie and James! They can't manage it without me!"

Ash looked at the cat, he sighed.

"Fine, I'll help you find them."

* * *

_Present time... Ash's camp..._

* * *

"But..." Brock hesitated. "Meowth's with you?"

"No shit?" Ash's voice was filled with sarcasm. "Things happened on our journey."

"What kind of things?" Brock wanted to know.

Ash looked at Meowth. "You want to explain?"

"Sure, Ash." Meowth got up and started to walk around to campfire as he started his story.

"I was surprised by Ash's kindness, and his other pokemon's too, towards me. They gave me dinner, they even trained me and if I misbehaved sometime they would just scold me, not punish me in any physical manner!" Meowth smiled at the memory, but then his face got a dark look. "But then we finally found Jessie and James, after six months."

"What had happened?" Brock asked curiously as he prepared for the worst.

"They had gotten the boss's Persian!" Meowth growled and yelled at the same time. "And they didn't even miss me!"

"Why would Giovanni give away his Persian to Jessie and James?" Gary asked with a confused look.

"He had finally gotten a not so powerful legendary pokemon that he always wanted." Ash said with dislike in his voice. "He just dumped his former pokemon on James and Jessie."

"Anyway." Meowth continued. "I ran to them and greeted them... but they weren't happy to see me! They called me a traitor and weak for being in Ash's team! So I challenged the Persian to a battle and..." Meowth couldn't continue.

"He lost." Ash stated simply. "It was an even fight, but he lost and Jessie and James started to laugh and mock him."

"That's when I understood that Team Rocket had never been good for me." Meowth sighed. "So I joined Ash's team. They were, and still are, like a family to me, they treat everyone like equals and..." Some tears was forming in Meowth's eyes. "They take care of me in a way that I couldn't dream of!"

"I'm glad for you, Meowth." Gary said after a while. "I have not seen you that many times before... but I'm glad that you're on the 'good side' now!"

"Speaking about the good side..." Brock glared at Ash. "Were you serious? When you told me that you worked as a mercenary?"

"That depends on how you see it." Ash closed his eyes, like he was listening to something.

Brock waited for a moment, but he didn't get any answer. "And?"

"People can hire me, if I'm around, to capture any kind of pokemon that they aren't able to catch."

"Then you're no better than Hunter J!" Brock exclaimed as he stood up. "You're a poacher!"

"I could be, yes. That depends on how you see it." Ash replied with his usual calm as he raised his hat a little. "I don't capture the pokemon against their will, I explain the situation for them and if they don't want to I'll let them go... so tell me, how's that different from being a breeder?"

"What... what do you mean?" Brock asked slightly puzzled.

"You sell pokemon that you raise, sometimes before they're even born. You take them away and give them to complete strangers before they've even met their parents, and you have no idea what the person is going to do to them!" Ash shook his head in dislike. "The only thing that is different is that I take payment so I can be sure that they really need the pokemon."

"Oh yeah? Well, at least I..."

"Guys, stop!" Gary shouted at them. "We're not here to fight! Brock, you haven't even asked Ash on… you know.."

"Before I do that, I want to hear the story between Ash and May, and how he lost his title." Brock glared at Ash. "I want to know what happened between you two before I ask you anything."

Ash only looked at the breeder with piercing eyes along with Meowth and Pikachu had its head tilted a bit as he watched the drama unfold.

**End of chapter 3**

* * *

**I tried to make Ash look like Van Helsing a little (But in the none-anime movie) Thanks to "Ashton Nauran" that gave me the idea!  
**

**Yeah, Ash is pretty much not giving a shit about anyone right now except his pokemon... you think that it'll change? **

**I'm going to be a jerk again... since I want to beat the 100 review count I'm NOT going to post the next chapter until I get at least over 15 reviews on THIS chapter!**

**It's better to review later than never and I'll be seeing you in the next chapter!**

**R&R!**


	4. Chapter 4

**You're probably going to hate me a little for this chapter ^^ Some people for some reasons and other for some other ones!**

**The wedding is getting close... who would you want to attend at it?! (No OC's, it needs to be characters from the anime... Mail it to me!)**

**Remember that the words in this chapter is Ash's... not mine!**

**B.t.w, I'm really impressed on how many review I got... thank you! (Feel free to do it again ^^)**

**Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review at the end of the story!**

**R&R!  
**

* * *

"It's getting light soon, you guys should probably go..." Ash told them as he completely ignored Brock's question. "Don't tell anyone that you've seen me."

"Make us!" Brock got up from his sitting-position with his hands clenched. "Tell us! What happened to you?!"

"It's not time for ghost stories now..." Ash smirked as he used his hat to cover his face and leaned back in his seat. "Get some sleep, you have a long day tomorrow."

"Ghost stories?" Gary asked dumbfound. "Why would it be a ghost story?"

"Because May's in it." Ash simply said, causing Meowth and Pikachu to laugh.

Brock and Gary just stared at the relaxed trainer, the Ash they had known seemed to be completely gone. The Ash they knew would never talk bad about any of their friends, maybe in jokes, but he was dead-serious.

"What's happened between you and May?" Brock demanded, he had always looked at Ash and May as though they were one of his siblings, that's why it angered him a great deal when the 'New Ash' was making a mockery of her. "What did she ever do to you?"

"It isn't what she DID." Ash seemed annoyed, he really wanted to rest but the weird breeder just kept questioning him... "It's what she didn't do."

"Can you stop giving me half-answers!?!" Brock cried out, outraged. "Tell us what's wrong!"

"Okay, fine." Ash growled as he sat himself up and took off his hat. "I'm going to give you the short version, so listen closely now because you'll only hear this once!"

Brock and Gary placed themselves a little closer to Ash to hear what he had to say, they really wanted to know what was it that changed him so much.

"It all started a few months after Meowth had decided to travel with us, I had put him inside a pokeball during that time... to surprise you guys..." Ash looked up in the sky as early morning light made his eyes look they were on fire. "As you know, I was the Sinnoh Champion, but did you know that May won the Grand Festival at the same time as I won my title?"

"Yes, we were there to see her final..." Brock instantly regretted his words, they had been there to see May claim her title, but not to see Ash claim an even more important one? "Sorry..."

"I don't care." The wanderer just shrugged his shoulders. "Anyway, I was invited to see May and..."

"And what?" Gary asked curiously. "Tell us, we're your friends."

"Since when did you become my friends again?" Ash shook his head. "I'll tell you, but if you tell anyone I'll personally rip your spine through your throat and feed it to Garchomp."

Brock and Gary gulped, it seemed like Ash wasn't joking.

"I hate to admit that I had a little crush on May for several years ago." Ash sighed and shook his head in disappointment.

The researcher gasped, he had no idea. Brock had a little frown, he had suspected that for a while, but he wanted to hear the rest of his story.

"Anyway, she invited me to meet her in Johto, she was traveling there with a couple of her friends." Ash spat on the ground. "I went there, excited and happy to tell her how I felt..."

"This seems like a romance story!" Gary said to Brock, interrupting Ash. "Do you think he'll get her?"

"Umm... Gary..." Brock could only gulp as he saw Ash's death-glare, it was even scarier since Ash had a very calm face on. "I think that we should continue listening to Ash."

The trainer just rolled his eyes at the two, whom he considered idiots, and continued with his story.

"I arrived at Azalea Town and felt really excited. That was until I met her..." Ash shook his head once more, like he was trying to shake off the image. "She had changed so much, from the caring, young girl I once knew... the fame had gotten to her head and she treated novice trainers like... well, crap!"

Brock and Gary looked at Ash with disbelief, they hadn't talked to May so much since their departure from Johto, but they had a hard time imagining her doing that.

"It wasn't just that, she became close, I mean _really_ close with that grass haired sissy..." Ash spat once more towards the ground as he glared at his surroundings, Meowth growled and Pikachu's cheeks sparked with electricity.

"You mean... they were together?" Brock was dumbfound, he couldn't imagine that Drew actually would get together with May, sure, he knew that he liked to flirt with her... but he thought that it was one-sided.

"Pretty much," Ash growled as he glared at the innocent breeder. "She had beaten Drew at the finals of the Festival and he had confessed his 'everlasting love' for her" Ash sounded like he was going to throw up. "He had EVEN captured a Torchic, just to prove to her that they were a 'perfect match'..."

"But..." Gary hesitated. "Maybe they really liked each other? I mean, it wasn't like you asked her... or..?"

"Yes, I asked her what the hell was she doing." Ash stated with a calm voice, completely ignoring when Gary and Brock fell down anime-style. "I told her that Drew wasn't good for her, that he would just break her heart and was only used her and so on..."

"What did she say?" Brock asked curiously. "I mean, you've been friends for a long time, she can't have just..."

"She told me to fuck off and that she never wanted to see me again." Ash yawned. "She said that she hated me and that I would never understand real love."

"So, what did you do then?"

"What do you think?" Ash frowned as he looked at the researcher. "I told her how I felt, that I thought that I loved her."

The breeder and former trainer groaned, this was going to get harder than they thought. "What did she say?"

"She laughed." Ash simply stated as he leaned back, using his arms to support his body on the ground. "She told me that I was only saying that to make her break up with that little freak, that I wouldn't understand what love was, even if it hit me in the face."

"Then, what did you do...?" Gary hesitated. He didn't want to anger Ash.

"I was young then." Ash shook his head. "I cried, I cried like a little child right in front of her."

"How did she react?" Brock couldn't help but feel sorry for the trainer.

"The witch didn't react at all." The raven haired teen shrugged. "She only walked away from me, without saying another word."

"I..." The breeder tried to find the right words. "I'm... sorry, Ash."

"Was that how you lost your position to Barry?" Gary asked curiously. "You couldn't battle properly and lost to him?"

"He told you before, Geek Twerp!" Meowth snapped at him. "He didn't lose to that human-Mankey!"

"Then what happened?" Brock asked as he tried to restrain Gary so he wouldn't attack Meowth for his 'nice' nickname.

"I ignored orders..." Ash shook his head. "Barry, he had been able to defeat the Sinnoh Elite Four and was going to take me on, we had already decided on a date for our battle."

"What do you mean 'ignored orders'?" Brock asked puzzled, but Gary had calmed down and seemed to know what Ash was talking about.

"I went to meet May on the day that we were going to have our battle, when she said that she wanted to 'Tell me something' I thought that she wanted to admit her feelings for me... so I didn't care about the title." Ash growled in anger. "They GAVE the title to that ass-hole! He didn't even earn it! They GAVE it to him!"

"I'm sorry Ash…" Brock looked at him with pain in his eyes. "But... why didn't you just take it back? Why didn't you challenge him for it?"

"Don't you think that I would've done that?" Ash spat out. "The league committee were nice enough to give me a ban from the Sinnoh Elite Four, they didn't like that I ignored their orders and refused my request for a formal challenge..."

"That still doesn't explain what you're doing out here." Gary looked at his childhood friend with a worried look. "Why didn't you just come home?"

"'Home?" Ash frowned. "Tell me: What's 'home'?"

"Pallet Town!" Gary exclaimed. "With your friends and famil...." He quickly regretted the last word.

"'Family'?" The trainer shook his head once more. "The only family I have is my pokemon, and I have them with me... as for friends... as I recall it, you started to avoid me after the funeral."

Brock got a guilty look, but not Gary, the researcher had tried to keep in touch with Ash for as long as possible. "It isn't easy to keep in touch with you when you're not staying at the same place for more than a month!"

"True, you got that right." Ash admitted.

"But that STILL doesn't explain why you left!" Brock exclaimed and got up once again as he stared at the calm trainer. "Why didn't you just look me, or some other of your friends, up?!"

"Why would I?" Ash shook his head. "I had lost everything, my mother, my crush, my title, the only thing I had left was my pokemon as my friends started to slowly drift away."

"Are you telling me that you're happy with this life?" Brock questioned, he still couldn't believe how his friend had changed so much. "Don't you want to return to your friends?"

"I've actually thought about the term 'friend'" Ash said slowly and looked at the breeder. "Isn't a 'friend' supposed to put his life before the other?"

"Yeah...?" Brock hesitated, he had no idea where Ash was going with this.

"Well, then can you please tell me why I almost sacrificed my life for you several times and why I can't ever recall you doing that even once for me?" Ash said with a calm tone, but his voice dripped with barely concealed venom. "You might have be my friends, but I was never your friend."

Brock didn't believe it, he didn't want to believe it. Sure, Ash had almost sacrificed himself for his friends several times and they might not have done it a even once for him, but that didn't mean that they weren't his friends... right?

"Ash... I'm..." Brock tried to explain, but he got interrupted by Ash.

"It's time for you to sleep, you have a long day's walk to the nearest city and you need your rest." Ash said as he closed his eyes. "You'll be leaving early tomorrow."

Neither Brock or Gary dared to say something to the "new" Ash, they only followed his command and closed their eyes to a fitful night of sleep filled with all sorts of dreams, some good, some bad…

* * *

_A few hours earlier... At the Pewter city gym..._

* * *

Poor Forrest and Flint, the girls in the house were a pain in a very special part to them as they commanded them to do everything from taking out the garbage to traveling ten miles just to deliver a letter.

Holly, Lola and her daughters sat eagerly at the table and were planning wedding. They were now looking through a list on whom they would invite to the wedding.

"Brock has really made many friends during his journeys.." Holly mumbled to nobody in particular as she was looking through the invitations, Brock had told her that she could invite anyone she wanted and he would just go along with her decision.

"He sure has!" Said Brock's mother, Lola, proudly as she sealed a finished envelope and handed it to Forrest. "Give this to Misty."

"It would take a whole day to get it to her!" Forrest refused. "I have some challengers right now!"

"Are you saying that you aren't going to help set up your oldest brother's wedding?!" Lola asked with a low and threatening voice, his younger sisters were also glaring at him.

"Umm.... N... no?" He asked with a trembling voice as he backed away. "I'll go and deliver it right away!"

"Thanks you, sweetie!" Lola smiled proudly as she continued to look through the list, that was a good thing, because she wouldn't be happy to hear what Forrest was muttering as he left the house.

"Holly!" Came Flint's voice. "Your parents are finally here!"

Holly and Lola got quickly up from their chairs as Holly's parents entered the room.

The male of the pair had purple hair and glasses, he was also wearing a brown suit and had a serious, yet kind, expression, who looked to be in his late 50s.

The female had the same hair color as Holly had, she also had the same hair style as well, she had blue eyes and was dressed in a long skirt and a yellow blouse. She was also in her late 50s but looked like she was only in her 40s.

"Lucian! Rhonda!" Lola smiled as she walked up and gave each of them a hug along with her soon-to-be daughter in law. "It has been a long time!"

"I agree, Lola." Lucian, the Sinnoh Elite Four member smiled. "I hope that our daughter has behaved herself."

"Of course, she's been like an angel!" Lola said cheerfully.

"That's good to hear." Rhonda, a former Sinnoh reporter, smiled as she hugged her daughter. "How are the wedding plans going on?"

"Well, our kids really know how to make friends!" Lola sighed. "It will take forever to get the invitations ready, and even longer to hand them out!"

"What, can you say?" Flint laughed. "Our kids' are so outgoing!"

"You got that right." Lucian laughed, he and Flint had become really good friends. "I must admit that I never thought that Holly was ever going to get married!"

"Dad!" Holly shouted embarrassed. "You don't have to say things like that!"

"Don't listen to them." Rhonda winked at her daughter. "We're here to help you with the invitations! What can we do?"

"Well..." Lola seemed to think. "I need someone to take that pile to Saffron City, and that pile to Fuschia City!"

"Don't worry." Rhonda just waved her hand. "I'm sure that Lucian and Flint can take care of it!"

"Yeah... WHAT!?" Both Flint and Lucian cried out at the same time. "Why is it only us men who have to all these deliveries?!"

"What do you mean, dear?" Lola asked her husband sweetly.

"I mean that you've sent out all of Brock's brothers to deliver the invitations, and now Lucian and myself! What are you girls doing here!?" Flint demanded to know.

"Well, dear." Lola smiled sweetly at him. "This isn't as easy as it looks, and you need to be girls to do this!"

"But... why wou...." Flint got stopped by Lucian's hand over his mouth.

"Don't ask..." Lucian whispered. "Let's just go, dangerous things will happen to us if we don't."

Flint shivered a little at Lucian's serious voice, so they walked silently up to the table and each took a pile as they then walked out to deliver it.

The girls started to eagerly return to their job, it was quite hard with the invitation of Brock's friends, since they didn't know who he exactly 'liked' and who he didn't. They especially didn't want to invite any girl that he had hit on (But then they decided to invite them too, as there would be too few people at the wedding...)

"Who's this?" Rhonda asked and pointed at a name on the list, Holly leaned over and read it.

"'Ash Ketchum, he's Brock's Best Man, he's out looking for him right now." She explained as she remembered him. "He used to be such a sweet, little boy, he cared for just about everyone!"

"Ash Ketchum...?" Rhonda seemed to think. "I remember that name... I may have given him an interview at some moment..."

"I wouldn't doubt that." Lola smiled. "He's a very powerful trainer, he was even the Sinnoh Champion!"

Rhonda gasped she remembered how her husband had come home with a proud smile on his face when he told her that he got beaten by a young boy. "It's that THAT Ash Ketchum?! The one that defeated my husband?!"

"Yes, but nobody knows what happened to him... you wouldn't know how he was defeated, would you?"

Rhonda shook her head. "No, I had just retired as a reporter then and Lucian refused to tell me... but Lucian was very angry at the League Committee that day..."

"Strange..." Lola agreed as she continued to look through the names. "What about this one: Drew LaRose?"

Holly thought for a moment, she had heard Brock mention him, but she didn't remember what he had said about him. "I think that he said that Drew was May's rival... but I've not heard her talk about him..."

"Well," Rhonda smiled. "Rivals often become good friends afterward, so I say that we should invite him!"

"I agree!" Lola nodded. "I can't recall Brock talking about that Drew-person, but it wouldn't be nice if they were close friends and he didn't get invited."

"Yeah." Holly nodded as she wrote a quick letter to the relatively unknown person and put it in an envelope. "If they didn't got along so well, then he can just decline the invitation!"

The other older woman nodded proudly as they continued to look through the pile.

"Look!" Lola cried out after a while. "Seems like Brock has befriended a berry!"

Rhonda leaned over Lola's shoulder and giggled a bit. "It's says Barry, not berry!"

"Oh... should we invite him then?"

"I don't know..." Rhonda hesitated. "I've met him a few times through Lucian, and I thought he was very nice, but Lucian didn't seem to like him that much... he was also the Sinnoh Champion for a short period of time!"

"Champion? Then we got to invite him!" Lola exclaimed happily as she wrote down his name on an envelope.

But Holly wasn't so sure... if it was really true, that Lucian didn't like him, then something bad had happened, her father didn't dislike anyone without a good reason...

"How's Harley doing?" Lola suddenly Rhonda, interrupting Holly from her thoughts.

"He's doing fine, thank you, he's competing against May Maple in the Grand Festival!" Rhonda smiled at the thought.

Holly giggled when she thought about her feminine brother, Harley had always tried to keep who his family was, a secret, since he found it a little disgraceful that his father and sister were trainers and that his mother was a reporter. But he was nice... well, at least to them.

The former bird trainer couldn't help but laugh a bit as she remembered May's face when she had told her that Harley was her brother, she seemed like she was going to faint! But when Harley got to know that May was Holly's best friend, he had stopped his 'tricks' and taunting against her and started to treat her like an equal... in a Harley-ish way...

* * *

_A __mile or so from Pewter City... On the road..._

* * *

"Tell me again..." Flint panted. "Why can't we just use one of your psychic pokemon to teleport us to our destinations?"

"Because our wives want us to take this quest to heart..." Lucian was also panting. "They wouldn't forgive us if we used out pokemon..."

"Taurosshit!" Flint spat tiredly. "They only want us out from the house so they can plan everything on their own... just like my wedding..."

"And mine..." Lucian sighed. "What's up with women and weddings?"

"I have no idea, but I'll be glad when this is over." Flint panted. "How long until we get there?"

"I only have six miles to my destination..." Lucian seemed to think. "Yours should be about double the distance..."

The retired gym leader groaned loudly as he collapsed to the ground. "I can't believe how Brock managed to travel from city to city in just a few days!"

"Speaking of Brock... where is he?" Lucian asked curiously. "Shouldn't he be around here somewhere getting ready for his own wedding?"

"Yeah... but he's looking for Ash right now." Flint sighed in relief as he felt the feeling back in his legs. "He wants him to be his Best Man."

"Why doesn't he just call him, then?" Lucian asked puzzled. "I didn't know that Ash would be coming too, I really want to meet him again!"

"He's disappeared..." Flint shook his head. "And why would you want to meet him anyway? Have you met him before?"

"Did you forget that I'm part of the Sinnoh Elite Four?" Lucian asked with a smile as they began to walk again. "Ash was the Sinnoh Champion at one stage, in record time too."

Flint face-palmed, how could he have forgotten?

"You're right, you needed to battle him.... and that meant that he beat you!" Flint laughed. "How did it feel?"

"To be beaten by Ash? It was an honor to fight such a trainer... but I can't say the same thing about the other one..."

"Who?" Flint asked puzzled.

"Barry, the guy who was champion after him." Lucian shook his head at the memory. "He didn't deserve the title one bit!"

"Barry? I haven't heard of him..." Flint seemed to think. "And why wouldn't he have deserved the title?"

The Elite seemed to think on it a bit, before he looked at the retired gym leader with serious eyes. "I'll tell you, but then you can't tell this to anyone else, is that understood?"

"Yes," Flint seemed a little scared. "What happened?"

Lucian sighed. "It all started with..."

* * *

_Next Morning in the Orre Region... At an unknown location between __Phenac City and Outskirt __Stand...._

* * *

Brock stood there in his black tuxedo, looking at the girl he loved walking down the aisle, she was being led by her father. He looked around, all his friends were there, his mother sat with tears in her eyes and Flint couldn't look prouder, Dawn and May looked at him with stars in their eyes, even the "tough guy" Max and the Tomboy, Misty were crying in their seats.

They were standing in front of the man that was going to wed them, they looked deep into each other's eyes, the man asked for the ring and Brock looked at his longtime friend and held out his hand.

Ash handed him the ring with a proud smile on his face, then he punched Brock in the gut...

Brock cried out as he felt another painful punch.

"Hey, wake up!"

Brock looked stirringly as he saw Ash, dressed in his brown trench-coat and hat, lightly kick him in the gut again with his foot.

"Had a good night's sleep? You'll need it if you're going to get back to Kanto, alive." Ash looked at the breeder with an annoyed look. "I've filled up your water and food reserves... how the hell could you not manage two days on that? It should have been enough for a week!"

"A... Ash?" Brock asked groggily, he had thought that the previous events were just a dream.

"No, I'm Nurse Joy..." Ash growled. "Get your ass up, you need to leave."

Without any further words, Ash lifted the breeder roughly and placed him on his feet.

Brock looked around, the sun was shining brightly and he could see that Meowth and Pikachu were trying to extinguish the fire. Gary was checking their supplies one last time and the motorcycle was... hold on...

"What's that?" Brock asked puzzled as he pointed at the motor-bike.

"What does it look like?" The trainer looked at the breeder like he was an idiot. "It's my transport."

"I didn't know you had a license!" Brock cried out in surprise.

"License?" Now it was Ash's turn to be confused. "Why would I have a license?"

"But... are you telling me that you're driving it illegally?!" Brock cried out in both surprise and anger. "It's dangerous to those around you!"

Ash looked around for a moment, then he turned to the breeder with a smirking face.

"Yeah, the Digletts five kilometer underground must be terrified..."

Brock sweat-dropped, he had forgotten that they were in the desert.

"But what about you? You could get hurt and die!"

Ash just shrugged. "Then it would be one less problem, wouldn't it?"

The tanned man just groaned in frustration as he walked towards Gary, he also wanted to check the bag to see that they had everything.

Pikachu jumped up onto his master's shoulder and looked suspiciously at the two people in front of them, they were too busy with glaring at Meowth ,who was telling them how to pack a bag correctly, to notice the rodent.

"Pika, Pikachu pi?" The little mouse asked its master.

"I don't know, but it won't take long." Ash explained for him. "I'm sure that they'll leave soon.

"Pika?"

"No, I'm not going with them." He shook his head. "I don't live that life anymore."

Unfortunately, Gary heard his words and looked at him with an annoyed look.

"What do you mean?" He started to walk towards Ash. "Do you know how much trouble we had to go through to find you?! The wedding is in one and a half weeks!"

"I'm sorry to hear that, but what can I do?" Ash shrugged and went to check that his bike was free of sand.

"Well, you can come with us! Everyone wants to see you!" Gary exclaimed as he was soon joined by Brock, who was carrying the bags.

Ash just laughed an empty laugh.

"'Everyone'? That's a new one," He laughed. "And what next? Are we going to forget about everything that has happened and be a big, happy family again?"

Brock was about to answer his question, but he got interrupted by Ash who held up his hand.

"There's no such thing as a 'happy ending'..." He shook his head. "We live, and then we die... alone."

"Ash..." Brock tried. "I want you to be my Best Man at the wedding, that's why we came to look for you!"

Ash shook his head once again, slowly. "I'm sorry, Brock, but I won't do it."

"That's just Taurosshit!" Brock cried out. "We want everyone to attend my wedding! We have made contact with everyone! Dawn, Paul, Tracey, Samuel, Max, May..."

"...And there's the problem." Ash smirked with his arms crossed. "The Black Spinarak (He's referring to the spider, the Black Widow) is going to be there, and I don't have a death wish!"

"But, don't you want to know what has happened to everyone while you gone!?" Brock cried out. "I mean, everyone has changed!"

"Really?" Ash raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess: Misty is still a gym leader, Tracey is Gary's assistant, Samuel is retired, Max is learning to become a gym leader, Dawn's designing dresses, May is still a coordinator, Paul is a Frontier Brain... am I missing someone?"

Gary and Brock were dumbfound, how could Ash know all that?

"H... how did you..." Brock tried.

"Easy..." Ash shook his head in disappointment. "You can see 'The Berlitz Company' on dresses everywhere, Misty loves being a gym leader, Max isn't experienced enough to become one yet, Paul has always respected Brandon for defeating his brother, Tracey has always enjoyed his job, Samuel Oak is old... and May... well, she's a bitch."

"I see..." Brock hesitated at Ash's last words. "But what about the other ones? The ones we met during our journeys!"

Ash frowned as he looked at the breeder. "Are you really that desperate to have a big wedding so you invite people that you barely know?"

"No!" Brock defended himself. "I'm referring to Drew, Angie, Conway and the others!"

"I don't know about Angie and Conway..." Ash seemed to think. "But I'm sure that Drew has retired from coordinating and is as big as a house."

"I.. I don't know about the last part..." Brock hesitated. "Why would Drew be 'as big as a house'?"

"Easy, he has always been a lazy son of a bitch," Brock winced at Ash's language. "And it runs in his family to become overweight, and when he realizes that he won't be able to win any Grand Festival: He will retire and live on his parents' money."

"I don't care about that!" Brock snapped. "I'm not even planning on inviting him! Please, I beg you, be my Best Man!"

"No, I'm sorry, I will not." Ash shook his head. "I've walked away from my past, I don't even know my past anymore."

"But.."

"You need to head in that direction." Ash pointed Northwest. "That's the way to the closest town, tell a guy with a red beard that Ash Ketchum wants him to repay his favor by taking you guys to the docks."

Both Gary and Brock knew that it wasn't doing any good to convince him, so they started to walk towards the direction that Ash had pointed, until Gary looked back and threw a disappointed look at Ash.

"You know..." Gary told his childhood friend. "I used to tell every new trainer that would get his or her starter pokemon about 'The famous Ash Ketchum', it's too bad that I can't do that now."

Ash just stood there without showing an emotion.

Brock also turned around.

"Yeah, my little siblings always wanted me to tell about my adventures with you, they looked up to you as their hero." Brock took a step closer Ash. "Please Ash, come with us."

"Touching story..." Ash lowered his head. "But, no, I won't come with you."

Brock sighed, he had now lost all hope.

"I won't have another Best Man, the position will always be there for you... if you should change your mind."

Ash only nodded as he turned and walked towards his motorcycle, started it and took off in a different direction.

Brock and Gary walked to town with somberly looks, certain that they wouldn't tell anyone that they had found Ash, they didn't want to tell them what he had become...

**End of chapter 4  
**

* * *

**As you see: Ash isn't too fond of May, but it will change!.... or will it? : /**

**Wasn't the reason enough for Ash to leave (It's getting harder and harder to figure out those kind of things without copying another story :S)**

**_ATTENTION:_ Calm down, I'm not going to put up a review-limit again :P No, I just need your help with some things:**

**1. Who's going to attend at the wedding (I got some persons, but it would be nice if you could mail me another one that you think should be there too!)?**

**2. How goes a wedding ceremony? And what things do you need for one? (And should I use a priest? I prefer to not mix any religion into my stories... unless it's "pokemon religion".)**

**3. Should I make Drew "Big as a house", or is it just going to be Ash's thoughts?**

**Did I overdo the thing with Men-got-no-power-under-a-wedding-thing?**

**It's better to review later than never and I'll be seeing you in the next chapter!**

**R&R!**

**(P.S: I bet you didn't expect the Holly-family thing ^^ Did anyone ever mention something about Harley's family in the anime?)  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello, fellas! Here's the fifth chapter!**

**I know that I said that it would be a short story... but the ideas wouldn't stop coming and it took a little more place to write everything down than I expected... but I hope that you won't complain!**

**This chapter may seem a bit rushed... but it would take far too long to write everything, that's why it will be some time jumps. **

**You're still free to suggest guests for the story... (But I would appreciate if you didn't take persons that they had only met briefly, in movies or Richie(I never liked Richie that much))**

**I also got a complain at Meowth for some chapters ago... why? He's awesome, right?**

**The only thing that's left to say is: **

**Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review at the end of the story!**

**R&R  
**

* * *

Brock and Gary were surprised to see that it took only a half day for them to reach Phenac City, even though it had taken them two days to find Ash from there. The people in the city didn't look too grateful to find them there; they were possibly much colder than before, all except for one person.

They walked up towards the man that Ash had described, it was the only man there with a beard that was red in color, so it was quite simple for them. The man didn't look very strong, but he was big and had a little 'beer-belly' and a friendly face.

The man eyed them suspiciously as they approached him.

"Hello?" Brock asked in a hesitant voice.

"What do you want?" The man gruffed as he glared at the two strangers. "We don't take kindly to strangers here... what's your business?"

"We... were told to say that: Ash Ketchum tells you to return your favor by taking us to Gateon Port." Gary hesitated. "Do you know him?"

The man let out a big laugh.

"Know him?!" The man laughed and patted him on the back, a little too hard for Gary's comfort. "Son, that kid saved my ass countless number of times! I owe him my life!"

"But..." Brock hesitated. "He only said 'favor'... why didn't he say 'favors' then?"

But the breeder quickly regretted his words as he saw the look on the man's face.

"Because he and my daughter, who's around his age, had a little 'adventure'..." The bearded man said with a dark face. "So that took away several favors..."

"We... we don't know him very well!" Gary was quick to say. "He only said that you would take us to Gateon Port!"

The man let out another hearty laugh.

"I can see that you don't really know him!" He laughed. "You're too much of a coward to really know him!"

Gary didn't know what to say, so he only kept his mouth shut and let Brock do the talking.

"So, can we leave now?" Brock asked hesitantly.

"What's with the hurry?" The man asked with his loud voice. "Look around, you're welcome here!"

The two males did, and they were surprised to see that it was true. The people weren't looking at them with suspicion any more, it seemed like after they had found out that they knew Ash they relaxed, some of them even smiled at them!

"Yeah... but we need to go." Brock looked down, rather embarrassed. "You see... my wedding is coming up soon..."

"You're going to get married!?" The man said with a normal tone, but it sounded like a roar to Brock's and Gary's ears. "Why didn't you say so!? Let's go! I'm Reinald by the way."

"I'm Brock." Brock introduced himself. "And this is Gary."

"Well, Brock and Gary, let me introduce you to my daughter Rui!" Reinald made a gesture towards a good looking girl around 18 years old, she had red hair that was tied in two ponytails and was wearing a denim skirt and a white tank top which made Gary drool.

"Hello, it's nice to meet ya!" She spoke with a little country accent, but that only increased her charm. "Who are you?"

"I'm Brock." Brock introduced himself and tried to ignore the pain in seeing the proof that Ash was indeed popular with the ladies. "And this is Gary."

"H... hi...." Gary looked like he was in the dream land, but Brock elbowed him rather roughly so he shook himself from his perverted thoughts. "Ehm, I'm Gary Oak, nice to meet you."

"Oak?" She asked curiously as she leaned forward. "Oak, as in: The Professor Oak from Kanto?"

"Yeah." Gary straightened in himself. "Heard about me?"

"You know Ash, right?" She asked energetically and completely ignored the fact that Gary fell down anime-style and was sulking on the ground.

"Young lady!" Reinald snapped at her. "If you ever meet Ash again, I'll..."

"Yeah, I know..." Rui yawned. "You'll lock me in inside a tower and not let me come out, or something like that."

"What?! No! I'm going to..."

"Are we going, or not?" She took hold of the two males' hands and led them away from her father. "You know, the fastest way to get to the harbor is by flying, but we don't have any flying pokemons... so you can take these Ponytas!"

Gary only nodded and Brock looked thoughtful.

"How will we find our way back to Gateon Port?" The breeder asked worried. "We got lost the last time we tried to get somewhere on our own here in Orre."

"I can't take you there." said Reinald as he shook his head. "I'm too old to ride, but Rui here can take you!"

The two males looked at the girl, one relived and the other with barely concealed joy.

"Okay!" Gary said, a little too cheerfully. "Let's go then!"

"Hold it, sonny!" The man barked and grabbed his shirt. "Don't think that I'm a fool, I won't fall for the same trick twice... if you so much as look the wrong way at Rui, I'll hunt you down and it won't be pretty when I get through with you! Is that understood!?"

Gary only gulped and nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Good!" The man laughed as he returned to his normal mood and let Gary down. "I think that you need to go now, if you don't want to ride in the dark."

* * *

Gary's butt still hurt as he slowly began to walk towards the boat, what they didn't say is that they were riding bare back on the ponytas (not to mention the burns they got when they first got on as the ponytas didn't trust them).

When he finally got the courage to talk to Rui again she would only change the subject and ask about Ash! Gary couldn't even ask how old she was without her asking: 'How did Ash become the Sinnoh Champion?' and it made him furious. Soon he didn't talk to her and only sulked on the Ponyta he was riding, as he tried to make himself comfortable for the rest of the journey.

Brock had also been awfully quiet; he seemed to be in deep thoughts about something, something that appeared to be troubling him. Gary shrugged and thought that it was probably just about his wedding; everyone was normally nervous about that, right?

They had finally arrived at Gary's boat, and that made him groan in agony as several sailors were standing there and laughing at him.

"Brock!" Gary shouted furiously. "Will you look at this!?"

It seemed like Brock snapped out from his thoughts as he looked around in confusion.

"Who? How? What?" He looked at the outraged researcher. "What happened?"

"What happened? WHAT HAPPENED!?" Gary roared. "I'LL TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED! MY BOAT IS FULL OF WINGULL-SHIT!!"

The breeder looked inside the boat and couldn't help but laugh at the misfortune of the professor.

It was true, the boat didn't have any cover, so there were small, white, dots all over the boat, making it look like somebody had spilled some white paint on it.

Brock quickly forgot all his problems and started to laugh, and boy did it feel good... but it didn't last long when he heard Gary's next sentence.

"Yeah, laugh all you want... remember that you need to spend a day in this boat too..."

* * *

After the boat ride they decided to spend some time in Gary's house, as they felt really down after the past events to want to head onto Pewter City just yet.

Gary tried to find the right words to cheer the breeder up, but it wasn't easy.

"Hey, Brock," Gary smiled. "Cheer up! At least you know that he's alive now!"

"Is he?" The breeder asked with a blank look. "Is that the Ash you know? I'm sure he isn't the one that I know..."

"He isn't the kid you once knew, Brock." Gary shook his head. "He has grown up,sure he is much more down to earth and more suspicious... but I'm sure that it's the same person deep in!"

"Maybe... there's only one way to know that for sure." Brock said, more to himself than to Gary, as he took a sip of the tea that Mr. Mime had given him.

"Oh yeah?" Gary asked with a smile. "And, what's that?"

"If he shows up at the wedding, then he's the same person as before." Brock sighed and leaned back in the couch. "Where's Samuel and Tracey?"

Gary had annoyance written all over his face.

"They left for Pewter City already." Gary said with a frown. "They gave Mimey a list of things that he needed to do and told him where the food was... then they went to Pewter City to sleep in a hotel..."

Brock shook his head.

"I didn't know that Mimey could read." He looked at the pokemon curiously. "Who taught you how to read anyway?"

The pokemon just shrugged and continued to sweep the room that they were in.

They suddenly heard a knock on the door and Gary went to open it.

A fifteen year old boy with brown hair and a squinty-eyed look fell inside the hall as soon as the door was opened, panting heavily.

"Forrest!" Gary exclaimed in surprise, he had met Forrest a few times when he was traveling doing research. "What are you doing here?!"

"I..." Forrest could barely speak. "I was sent to give you an invitation for the wedding of Brock Harrison and Holly Honoka's wedding... and feel free to give them a wedding gift."

Gary couldn't help but feel pity for the poor boy as he said his line, which no doubt his mother had forced him to memorize.

"Forrest, I know that I'm invited... Brock called me."

Forrest looked up to him from the floor with weak eyes. "You sure?"

"Positive." Gary sent him a weak smile. "Brock's even here!"

Forrest groaned loudly as he dragged himself towards the room where Brock was, the older sibling was surprised to see his younger brother.

"Forrest! What are you doing here?" Brock cried out as he smiled. "Tracey and Samuel are already on their way!"

"I know..." Forrest sighed. "But they wanted me to send out the invitations to those who are to the south of Pewter City... been walking for several days... no sleep..."

"But, what about the other directions?" Gary asked puzzled, he didn't see the shocked look Brock had.

"They forced dad to take the North, Lucian to take the east and the other siblings to take the west...the other regions will be done by pokemon mail, "thank Arceus for that" he muttered under his breath", Forrest's panting had calmed down a little and could now sit up straight on the couch. "It's a nightmare at home, they're keeping us busy so the girls can plan the wedding by themselves!"

"How do you know that?" Brock asked a little sceptically, he didn't want to think of the terrible fate that was happening to the males in his family... and soon to be family as well.

"When I told them that you probably wouldn't like blue flowers... they sent me out to walk a distance that would take two days.... in the middle of the night!" Forrest groaned. "But at least we're done with the invitations right now..."

"Poor brother." Brock sighed. "I'm going to have a talk with them!"

"Yeah, that's a good idea!" Gary said, his voice was dripping with sarcasm. "And then you can run to Sinnoh!"

"Did you find Ash by the way?" Forrest asked suddenly as he seemed to had regained most of his strength. "You went out to look for him, right?"

"We..." Brock didn't want to tell his brother, who saw Ash as a hero, that they had failed in their quest to bring him back. "We... isn't the wedding in a week's time?"

"Yeah..." Forrest seemed to hesitate. "Why do you ask..."

"Then we need to get going then!" Brock cried out and took Forrest's hand and dragged him towards the door. "We can ride to Pewter on Steelix, you're coming, Gary?"

"Sure, it looks like Mimey is taking care of everything here!" Gary shrugged and picked up the bag he had yet to unpack and walked out with the two brothers.

* * *

They had finally arrived at Pewter City, Brock's hometown. After he knocked on the door, he could hear what sounded like a pack of wild tauros coming towards him from inside the house.

First came Holly, running with a big smile on her face, and then came the rest of the family.

Holly jumped into his arms and kissed him hard on the lips, followed by his sisters and mother who hugged him.

"Welcome home, Brock!" They all said in unison.

"Thanks! It's good to be home!" Brock smiled, it was clear that Forrest had exaggerated the whole thing with work and...

"Oh, by the way." Lola interrupted his thoughts. "Since Holly's parents are here we need you to clean the guest room and change the sheets in there! And Forrest, you need to clean the gym!"

The two brothers groaned as they walked away with solemn looks. Gary couldn't help but laugh loudly at the misfortune of his two friends.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" Lola asked puzzled.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Gary smiled. "I'm Gary Oak, grandson of Samuel Oak!"

"Nice to meet you, Gary." Lola smiled. "You mind helping Forrest clean up the gym?"

"Yeah, tha..." Gary froze a little. "WHAT!?"

"That's so nice of you!" Lola chirped as her daughters started to push Gary towards the gym. "Then you can help Billy clean the basement!"

"But.... but...." Was all Gary managed to say as the girls literally pushed him into the gym and closed the door after him.

* * *

Brock cursed under his breath as he changed the sheets, it really wasn't his day today...

He looked up when he heard someone knock on the door and saw his soon-to-be wife stand there with a small smile on her face.

"I always love to see you do housework!" Holly smiled and winked as she walked up and wrapped her arms around him. "How did your quest go? Did you find him?"

"Well..." Brock just couldn't, he couldn't lie to his fiancée. "Yes, but... he's not the Ash that I once knew..."

"Brock... what's wrong?" Holly asked worried as she let him go. "What do you mean: 'he's not the Ash I once knew?"

"He has changed, Holly, he has changed so much." Brock shook the image of the soon-to-be best man out of his head. "I didn't recognize him."

"Brock, tell me."

Brock told her everything, except Ash's stories, he told her how they travelled to Orre and how they almost had died in the desert and how Ash had saved them, but he only told her that he had refused to accept the invitation.

"Maybe he's confused?" Holly smiled. "Maybe he's just lonely?"

"I've a hard time believing it..." Brock muttered as he thought of the woman at the Pokemon Center. "Maybe this was meant to be, all friendships doesn't last..."

He didn't have time to complain until he heard the bell ring. Some of the guests have arrived... and very early too!

* * *

Two people were riding their bikes along cycling-road, both of them looked like all the others in the Harrison family.

Suzie, a girl of about nine years old with light brown hair and an orange dress, was trying to compete against her older brother.

Salvador was smirking as he used the power of his eleven year old body to speed away from his sister.

They were currently heading back home towards Pewter City, they had just finished delivering the invitations at Fuchsia City and were happily racing against each other in a race of speed.

But their path was blocked by some strange looking people.

"Well, what do we have here?" Asked a man around 29, he had fire-colored hair that stood right up and had a white tie tied around it. He also wore a black leather jacket and was riding a... Zapdos-bike? "Don't you know that you need to have permission to ride on these roads? Isn't that right, Tyra?"

"You tell them, Chopper!" Smiled a pretty woman with long, brown hair and a black leather jacket with a red shirt under it. "You need to have our permission to ride on this road!"

"We don't want any trouble." Salvador stood up for his sister. "We're only trying to return home to prepare for our brother's wedding!"

"A wedding?" The man named Chopper looked hurt. "A wedding in Kanto? And we're not invited?"

"I wonder what were they thinking..." The female around 25, Tyra, smirked as she eyed the children. "Since we're not invited... why should we let you pass?"

The siblings started to feel scared. Only one of them had pokemon, but it didn't really matter since there were around fifteen bikers and they looked like strong trainers.

"Please?" Suzie asked with pleading eyes. "We're already late in getting home, can't you just let us pass?"

The bikers laughed at the little girl's pathetic words; didn't she know who they were?

"Kid, you're talking to the strongest gang in Kanto!" Chopper laughed. "Show some respect!"

"But we're not from around here!" Salvador cried out as he stood in front of his sister, protecting her. "We only want to get home!"

"You're not from here?" Chopper smiled as he stepped off his bike. "Well, that's too bad... we don't take too kindly to strangers here!"

"That explains why you're a bunch of inbreeds then." They heard a low, yet clear, voice.

"Who the hell are you?!" Snapped Chopper at the man in dark brown clothes. "And how did you get here on that motorcycle without anyone of us noticing?!"

"Well, inbreeding can damage several vital organs." The man seemed to smirk under his hat. "Why are you picking on these children?"

Chopper looked to Tyra for support, but she looked like she was lost in some kind of trance as she looked at the man.

The man noticed that and sent her a smile.

"Hey, beautiful, how ya doing?" The dark man asked with a deep voice, which made the girls in the gang have heart in their eyes and the guys to shiver.

"Leave my girlfriend alone!" Chopper stood between them. "Who do you think you are to think that you can get pass the legendary biker gang?"

"Biker?" The gang gasped as they heard the Meowth who was standing at the stranger's side, talk. "Those aren't bikes.... THIS is a bike!" He said and made a gesture towards the black motorcycle.

"Pika, Pikachu pika!" The rodent happily stated as he watched the gang from its master's shoulder. "Pika, pi pi chu!"

"Pikachu's right." The man nodded. "You should be ashamed of yourself... grown men, still riding around on their bicycles and picking on small children..."

"Shut up!" Chopper took a challenging step towards the man. "What do you know?! It's not like you know who we are!"

"Yes, I do." The man said in such a calm voice that made the gang shiver. "You're the ones that are going to leave this place..."

"Why don't you make us!?" Chopper took one step closer the man. "Or, are you too afraid?!"

The man only looked over Chopper's shoulder, towards the children.

"Kids." He said to them. "Go, now."

Neither Suzie nor Salvador dared to deny the man's request that had just saved them; they only nodded and jumped onto their bikes and they quickly sped away from there.

The man watched them disappear in the distance, then he turned his gaze towards the gang leader.

"Where were we?"

Chopper gulped, he was even more afraid when he saw that the man in front of him seemed to not have any kind of emotion on his face! But then he pulled himself together, he had to look good for the gang after all. He smirked as he pulled out a white and red orb and threw it into the air.

"Golem! It's time to show them who's boss!"

The giant rock pokemon was summoned and started to glare at his opponent, but he also felt a little nervous deep inside.

"Pikachu." Was the man's only words as he looked at the rodent on his shoulder.

The mouse pokemon nodded and jumped towards Golem with a speed that many would find unbelievable, just a few of them noticed the pokemon's tail glow bright white before he smacked it onto the top of Golem's head, making it faint instantly.

"Looks like we're done here." The man simply said as he looked at the fainted boulder. "Will you move, so I may continue?"

"Hold it!" Chopper yelled outraged, the man had made him look like a weakling in front of his gang, and he wouldn't let that go so easily! "You may be tough with pokemon, but how tough are you without them!?"

With those words he started to walk towards the man with clenched fists, he could see how the males of his gang did the same thing... but the women only looked worriedly at them as they saw the men walk towards the stranger, planning to take him out and regain their honor.

"Pikachu, Meowth, stand down." The man smirked as he started to walk towards the gang. "I've missed this..."

He took off his hat and threw it to the cat who caught it skilfully as he just smirked and sat himself down to enjoy the show, Meowth couldn't help but snicker as he saw the gasps the girls made as they saw the face of his master.

"Let's get this over with..." Ash Ketchum smirked as he brushed his bangs from his face.

* * *

"Congratulations!!" Was the shout that startled Brock and Holly as soon as they opened the door.

They saw a girl in her early twenties with red hair tied in a ponytail who was none other than Misty.

There were two males too, one they recognize as Samuel Oak and the other one as Tracey Sketich. But there was also another person there.

"Misty! Tracey! Samuel!... and who's this?" Brock frowned a bit as he tried to remember that person.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Misty blushed a bit out of embarrassment. "This is a gym leader of the Orange Island that Ash defeated, his name's Rudy!"

Brock suddenly remembered how Ash had boasted several years ago about how he was able to defeat a gym leader... but he didn't have any nice things to say about him at the moment...

"Sorry to be rude.." Brock tried to find the right words. "But, what are you doing here?"

Both Misty and Rudy got embarrassed looks on their faces.

"Well, he's my date to the wedding!" Misty exclaimed as she passed Brock. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you that I was bringing a guest... but I just wanted to surprise you guys!"

"Umm, sure..." Brock and Holly hesitated. "Welcome!"

Tracey smiled as he lead Samuel in by the arm, the years hadn't been kind to the former professor as he needed a walking stick to move, and his face looked more tired than ever.

"And I tell you, Tracey!" Came the old man's voice. "A Pikachu! A little Pikachu attacked me and I captured him and gave him to a little boy!"

"I know, professor, I know." Tracey said with a weak smile as he tried to get him to sit down. "But you need to be quiet now, we're at someone else's house now and we shouldn't be too loud."

The professor nodded groggily and started to jot down random notes on a sketchpad, he didn't exactly write anything, he just drew figures that used looked like pokemon.

Brock smiled weakly at the once great pokemon professor, but he didn't have the time to talk with him as he heard some other voices outside the door.

"Kenny, I swear to Mew, if you don't stop asking me if you need to take my bags I will..."

Brock smiled and opened the door to reveal Kenny and Dawn... but he didn't expect to see Conway there though, and a little kid clinging to Dawn's leg.

"Brock!" Dawn cried out as she gave him a hug. "Congratulations! I never thought that you..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Brock laughed uncomfortably, he was growing tired of that statement. "So, this is little Scott?"

"It sure is!" Dawn smiled proudly as she bent down to the little two year old ,with blue hair's, level. "Go on, Scott, say hi to the nice man."

"H... hi!" The little kid stuttered as he then hid his face in his mother's skirt.

The breeder laughed a little until he turned his gaze towards the two older males, they were currently glaring at each other.

"Kenny, it's nice to see you... but I didn't know that you were coming Conway!"

Conway just shrugged as he and Kenny continued to glare at each other, causing Brock to sweat-drop, Holly was in the kitchen and was to the guests who have arrived.

"So... I know that Dawn design dresses... but what have you been up to?" Brock asked Kenny and Conway as he tried to start a conversation with them.

"Don't worry about them, Brock." The young blunette tried to cheer him up. "Those two are always around me, so I think that I can answer any of your questions about them!"

She made a gesture towards Conway.

"Conway is working as Rowan's assistant, he's also my number one stalker!" Dawn giggled at those last words, but Brock didn't know if she was serious or not. "And Kenny is still a coordinator, but he's getting his ass wiped by May and Zoey!"

"Speaking of them... I wonder where are they..." Brock seemed to think hard; since May was Holly's Bridesmaid she would be here soon. "Have you seen them?"

"I actually talked to May for a few hours ago." Dawn admitted as she got a little embarrassed look because she had to answer for her friend. "She's coming with Zoey and Harley, they were going to be here before me but they had to wait for Barry and..."

"Barry's coming!?" Brock cried out in surprise, Holly heard that and got a confused look on her face.

"Brock?" His fiancé walked up to him, Dawn was too busy comforting her child that had been frightened by the breeders outburst. "What's wrong?"

"I...I..." Brock couldn't break his promise to Ash by telling Holly the story. "I... just didn't know that you would invite him."

"Why?" Holly looked at Brock a little confused. "Should I have not invited him?"

"No!" Brock quickly corrected himself when he saw the sad look on his soon-to-be wife's face. "You didn't do anything wrong! I told you to invite anyone you wanted, and you did that!... besides... it isn't like he's going to be here..." Brock mumbled the last words so nobody could hear that.

"Holly! Suzie and Salvador are back!" Came Lola's cry from the kitchen. "Brock! Come, quick!"

Both Brock and Holly ran towards the kitchen, they ran because the tone in Lola's voice showed some fear in it. They got in and saw the two children, they seemed to be in one piece, but they looked a little scared as they hurried towards their big brother and hugged him.

"Brock!" They both cried out at the same time and then they started to shout several sentences and words that Brock didn't understand.

"Hold on!" Brock had to shout so his voice could be heard. "Slow down! Tell me what happened!"

The two kids slowed their breathing down as they looked at the breeder, then Salvador started to talk.

"We were on our way back to Pewter, so we decided to take the cycling-road to get here faster...." He seemed to hesitate as he looked down towards the floor. "Then we got in trouble."

"What?" Brock asked both curiously and worriedly, Gary had entered the room after a rather embarrassing conversation with Dawn. "What happened?"

"We got stopped by some men on bikes!" Suzie cried out. "They didn't want to let us pass and threatened us!"

The whole room gasped as they heard that, but then they calmed down as they saw that the children were alright.

"Then what happened?" Gary Oak had now joined the conversation and was curious too. "You seem to be alright, so why won't tell us what happened?"

"A man in brown clothes who had Meowth and Pikachu saved us!" Suzie proclaimed. "And he had..."

She didn't finish her sentence as both her, and her brother, got their mouths covered up and then carried into an empty room by Gary and Brock. They placed the younger siblings down on the floor and looked at them with a hopeful, yet confused look.

"You saw a man wearing brown clothes that had a Pikachu and Meowth?" Gary asked as he got down to the children's level. "Are you sure?"

They nodded with hesitation as they looked at their older brother for support.

"Yes! The Meowth could even talk!" Salvador stated slightly awed by what he saw. "But I felt some dark aura around the man..."

"It wasn't a dark aura!" Suzie cried out, the males looked confused at her as she blushed a little bit.

"Do you know who he was?" Brock asked after a while, his hope rising. "Did you see his face?"

"No..." Suzie had regained some composure. "He told us to go and we didn't look back."

"So you didn't know what happened?" Gary asked with a sigh as he walked to a wall and leaned against it. "You don't know if he escaped or got hurt?"

The kids only shook their heads, then they looked at the older men with worried looks.

"Who was he?"

Brock and Gary looked at each other, should they tell them who he was? If they did, it would only be spread along the guests and it would only garner all sorts of reactions and outbursts from them... it would be a mess in other words. They made a decision and decided to stick to it.

"He was nobody." Gary lied as he shook his head at the same time. "I'm sure that it was just a stranger, but don't tell anyone who you saw... tell them that you managed to escape from the gang when they had their attention directed to them man... okay?"

Suzie and Salvador hesitated first, but then they nodded slowly and ran out of the room.

Gary turned to Brock with a look that both meant happiness and slight disbelief.

"You think that it was him?"

"I don't know..." Brock seemed to think deeply once again. "Why would he come back? He told us that he wouldn't..."

"And most importantly." Brock looked at Gary with a confused look. "Did he survive the bikers?"

**End of chapter 5**

* * *

**Did Ash survive? Was it Ash? Only the next chapter will tell...****Okay,****maybe**** it was Ash since I wouldn't had written "Ash Ketchum" if it hadn't been him... but, hey, you can't blame me for trying!**

**Remember: If you want, you can suggest guests that will come to the wedding, just a few exceptions.**

**How long do you think I should make the story? I have no idea on how this will turn out.**

**As you see: The wedding is turning out to be as a dictatorship with girls in charge (Isn't THAT a scary thought? ^^)**

**It's better to review later than never and I will be seeing you in the next chapter!**

**R&R!**

**(P.S: You have to forgive me for not describing the persons so much, but lets face the fact: I suck at it.)  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello and welcome back to the sixth chapter! The chapter may be a little shorter than usual.... but that's your punishment for not reviewing as you used to :P (Maybe I should reenter the review-limit? :P)**

**Anyway, I don't have anything to say than:**

**Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review at the end of the story!**

**R&R  
**

* * *

The man in brown clothes looked behind himself once again.

All the males were lying on the ground, unconscious, and the women were standing there, looking in awe, as the blue aura slowly disappeared into his hands.

Ash Ketchum shook his head, it had always been like that, he had always had some kind of thing that made people want to get to know him, some kind of aura that was surrounding him...

When he was younger, people were drawn to his friendly aura of innocence and childishness, but now... he didn't even want to think of what kind of aura he had...

"Meowth." Ash almost whispered as he looked towards his two companions, Pikachu had just jumped onto his shoulder. "My hat."

"Sure thing, boss!" The cat smiled and threw the brown hat towards his trainer. Ash caught it skillfully and placed it on his head, covering his face with the brim of it. "What's next?"

"I don't know..." He seemed to think. "You think that we can use the motorcycle on the bike-road?"

"Heh, you can always try!" Meowth smirked as he walked towards the big, metallic, bike. "What's the worst thing that could happen?"

The trainer only ignored his pokemon and looked at the other one that was seated on his right shoulder. "What do you think, Pikachu?"

The yellow pokemon just shrugged and nuzzled its little head into Ash's neck, making him chuckle slightly and pet the little rodent. "That's good, buddy... let's go."

The trio placed themselves onto their respective places on the bike and Ash started it by pressing a button at the control-panel.

The bike roared with such power that the noise could be heard from a mile around, good thing there weren't any police on the cycling road.

"Now," Ash called over the roar of the engine to his pokemon. "We need to find a present for this stupid thing called a wedding...

* * *

Brock heard the doorbell ring again and sighed, it had been a really busy day of sorting out presents that had been sent by people who said that they really wanted to come but couldn't for different reasons. He sighed, if he got one more toaster he would throw something outside the window... and it wouldn't be pretty...

The breeder was still disappointed that so few of the 'famous trainers' could come. Lance, Cynthia, Drake, Bertha, Flint, Wallace and many others couldn't come because they were very busy, according to them anyway.

But at least half of the gym leaders of Kanto should be at the wedding, thanks to Brock's former position as one of them... and they also had a little 'talk' with Misty if they weren't sure enough as to whether to attend it. Brock only hoped that Lt. Surge would be sober for once before the wedding...

He blushed to himself as he heard the second ring, he had been standing there in a trance for several minutes.

He opened the door and was surprise to see who was on his doorstep.

In front of him stood four people, one woman and three males.

The woman had blue eyes and pink hair, she was wearing light brown shorts and a light brown shirt. She was about 26 years old and was a famous coordinator... her name was Solidad. Brock had known her since before his journey with Ash as she was also from Pewter City.

The tallest male had a dark brown traveling coat with blue pants, he was wearing a hat that matched his coat. He was of the same age as Solidad and was went by the name of Nando, the traveling bard.

The second tallest male had purple hair and a serious look on him, he wore the same clothes that he wore during their Sinnoh journey, but they were a little bigger now than they were before. He had a hard face and eyed the breeder suspiciously. He was at the age of 20 and his name was Paul, the Pyramid Master.

The shortest, and the one that surprised Brock the most, had a mix between blue and black hair, he was wearing glasses and had a green shirt with black shorts. He was at the age of 16 and went by the name of Max, gym leader in training.

"Congratulations!" Was the chorus that came from Nando, Solidad and Max, Paul only nodded.

"Thanks, guys!" Brock laughed as he gestured for them to come inside. "Come in! Some of the guests have already arrived.... but I didn't know that you knew these people, Max."

The short trainer got an annoyed look on his face as he remembered the earlier events.

"You see, Brock." He sighed. "I didn't want to wait for the girls to finish their packing, so I went ahead of them and met up with this group! I already recognized Solidad so I thought that I could accompany them."

"And he could!" Nando said with his singing voice. "He has been a perfect accessory for the group!"

"Okay..." Brock seemed to hesitate. "As I said before, welcome! A few other people have already arrived, come in and make yourselves at home!"

The group pushed through Brock and walked into the room and they were greeted by surprised and happy shouts... all except for one of them.

"Brock." Paul looked at the breeder with suspicious eyes. "Where's Ash?"

"W... what do you mean, Paul?" Brock stuttered, he hadn't overcome the uncomfortable feeling that you got when you talked to the Pyramid Master. "Why should Ash be here?"

"Who said he was here?" The dark trainer smirked. "It's okay, I won't tell anyone, where is he?"

The breeder sighed, he knew that it was no use to deny Paul the information that he wanted to know, he was too darn good at getting what he wanted from people.

"Fine, we found Ash in the outskirts of Orre, happy?"

"And will he be here at the wedding?" Paul raised an eyebrow. "Last time I talked to him he didn't have any nice things to say about some people..."

"You've talked to Ash!?" Brock almost cried out, how come Ash spoke to Paul and not him? "When did you do it? How did you do it?"

"I looked him up a year ago." Paul shrugged. "It turned out to be some sort of hunt since he didn't want to talk... but his bike didn't stand a chance against my vehicle." He finished with a rather evil smirk on his face.

"I see..." Brock tried to shake off the picture of Ash riding the black motorcycle and Paul chasing him on the big Battle Pyramid. "Do you know if he's going to be here?"

The Battle Brain didn't respond to his question, he only walked pass him and into the room to sit in a corner and glare at people that annoyed him... almost like the new Ash would've done now...

* * *

"Let's see..." Ash was walking around a town as he was scouting for something fitting to bring for the couple, but it wasn't an easy thing to do...

"This sucks, boss." Was the only thing that came out from the cat as he glared suspiciously at his surrounding, people stopped to stare at the talking cat that was perched on the man's shoulder. "And what are you looking at!? Haven't you seen a pokemon on someone's shoulder before!?"

"Pikachu, Pi! Pikachu!" The little rodent chirped happily as he stifled his laughter. "Pik!"

"Oh yeah?" Meowth growled. "At least I don't cough up hairballs... oh, wait, I do..."

Even Ash couldn't restrain a little chuckle at the cat's miserable comeback, he had spent too much time with Jessie and James to ever come up with a decent comeback...

"Guys, silence." Ash almost whispered. "We need to buy something so we can leave soon."

"Yeah!" Meowth glared once more at the people that were staring at them. "You're right, boss, this town is a shit hole!"

Pikachu face-palmed as Ash coughed discretely as people started to glare at them.

The trainer did the only thing he could think of, he walked hastily into a random store to find something to buy for the couple.

The raven haired trainer groaned in disappointment as he noticed that they had walked right into a jewelry store, what kind of idiot wanted diamonds on their pokeballs?

Ash made some quick gestures so Meowth and Pikachu jumped off his shoulders and scouted the shop for something that was worth buying, neither of them had any luck.

Pikachu hadn't any luck because he got in a fight with an old lady that had recently been at the store who had bought some food... ketchup included.

"Get away from me, beast!" The old lady shouted and tried to fend off the rodent with her umbrella. "I'll call the police!"

"Pika! Pikachu!" The rodent waved its paws against the lady as he looked for something to fight her with, but he didn't get the chance since the old lady managed to land a hit on the pokemon with her umbrella... hard. "Pikaaaaa!"

"Leave my pokemon alone, you old hag!" Ash snapped at the woman as he picked his hurt rodent up. "He just wanted a little ketchup and you abused him with a fucking umbrella?!"

"Watch your mouth, young man!" The lady pointed the tip of her weapon towards Ash. "I may be old, but I can still defend myself from hooligans like you! Nobody can pass without me noticing and..."

"Yeah, yeah, you had me with old." Ash shook his head and walked away with his poor pokemon in his arms to look for something to buy.

The old woman sneered and left the store, without buying anything.

"Are you okay, buddy?" Ash asked carefully as he pet his little pokemon over the bruise on its head. "You want me to get back at the old hag?"

"Don't worry, boss." Meowth came up to them with a smirk. "It's already taken care off!"

With those words he handed a red bottle to the bruised rodent, Pikachu seemed to forget the pain and started to eat the ketchup with delight.

"Excuse me..." A boy around of thirteen years old came towards them, it seems like he worked there. "But I can't allow you to eat..."

Ash only looked at him with eyes that not just could kill you, they would torture you for several hours and rip your insides out and burn you alive.

The poor boy backed off slightly and started to sweat. "But, of course! There's no harm in letting a little Pikachu eat something!"

"Thank you." The trainer talked with a neutral tone. "Maybe you can help us, we're looking for a wedding present for a… friend..."

"Oh, someone's getting married?" The young boy smiled, but the smile died as he saw the look the man was giving him. "I'll see what I can do."

"Much appreciated..." It was hard to tell whether the trainer said that in an honest or sarcastic tone.

It didn't help the poor boy that the dark trainer followed his every step and that he from time to time had to tell the Meowth not pick things up and throw it about.

"W... what do you think about this?" The boy stuttered as the man glared at him.

Ash looked at the item in question, it wasn't big, but it looked really expensive.

It was a little, metallic box which was black with white motifs around it, and when you opened it you could see several places that were filled up with many things in different colors that looked like some kinds of walnuts.

"These are..." The boy was interrupted by the trainer.

"Incense..." Ash mumbled silently as he watched the small bottles.

"Yes!" The boy was glad that the man knew what it was, maybe it wasn't going to be so hard to explain. "They're so you can use them and breed several different pokemon species with each other, it depends on the sort of incense when you..."

"Things that you can find on every street corner..." Ash had maybe exaggerated a little, but it was also true, incense was pretty normal around the woods of Kanto.

"N... no." The boy had been slight afraid of the man. "This is the sort of incense that you can't get anywhere else! It's very rare and contains..."

"I'll take it." Ash didn't want to spend a minute more listening to the story. "Wrap it up and ring up the purchase so I can move on..."

"S...sure." The boy stuttered. He took out some white wrapping paper and tied it with a red ribbon. "That will be 499,89 pokedollars."

"What's your name, kid?" Ash asked as he took out money from his black, large backpack and put the present inside it.

"L... Lucas." The boy gulped, he didn't know why, but he was really scared of the man... maybe it helped a little that the cat was glaring at him with his claws extended.

"Well, Lucas." The man looked at Lucas with knowing eyes. "Next time you're going overcharge someone for something: Make the story believable."

He then walked out from the shop and left Lucas dumbfound, it didn't help that he had paid that amount of money as though it was nothing...

Ash Ketchum walked out from the store and was surprised to see a woman standing by his motorcycle, a woman wearing some kind of police uniform, there was also a Luxray at her side.

"Is something wrong, officer?" Ash asked calmly as he glared at the one who was standing by his vehicle.

"This motorcycle is parked in a no parking zone, Mr....?" She tried to think of his name, it was like she recognized him from somewhere.

"Satoshi." Ash told the truth, his middle name was Satoshi and he used it when he didn't want people to find out his identity. "And how was I supposed to know that it was parked in a no parking zone? Miss...?"

"The name's Marble!" The officer did some kind of pose. "I may never be sure who spilled the beans, but now that they've all been spilled, I'm the super-duper ace officer, Marble!"

"Right..." Ash groaned inward as he remembered the scrawny and loud wanna-be police detective from his Sinnoh journey. "As I said before: How would I be able to know if I parked it wrong or not?"

"You're kidding, right?" The woman chuckled nervously. "It's like, the first thing they teach you when they give you the license to ride it... may I see it?"

"Sure..." Ash took out his hat and exposed his long, black hair. "But what do you say about us getting to know each other first?"

"Are you... hitting on me?" Marble asked with a frown as her Luxray looked at him, head tilted to one side.

"Is it working?" Ash felt really stupid, but the worst part was that this usually works... usually...

"Sorry, but I'm actually not into men..."

"I see..." Ash seemed to be in deep thought, but Marble didn't know that as she saw his two small pokemon had made their way towards the motorcycle and placed themselves on it.

"Can I see your license?" She demanded now. "Please, I've recently been transferred here and have very little patience."

"I have it in my bike." Ash's dark voice startled the officer a little; she backed away a few meters and told her pokemon quietly to be prepared for anything.

Ash walked towards the bike and placed himself on it as he put on his hat. Then, in just two seconds, he had started it and took away with an incredible speed that made the officer look at him in awe, then she realized what had happened and quickly took her radio and called for backup.

* * *

Ash sped up and cursed the law as he saw two blue lights behind him that were closing in, he still didn't know how it was possible since their bikes ran on electricity and his ran on gas. But they were closing in on him and he had to do something quick, he didn't want to be taken into custody and be late for the wedding... if he did, it wouldn't be pretty for Brock when he finally got to it....

"**THIS IS THE POLICE!**" He heard someone shout into a megaphone. "**STOP THE VEICHLE, RIGHT NOW!**"

"That's a good idea..." Ash muttered to himself as he took a swerved to the right, they were traveling on some kind of forest environment, and that was a plus for Ash since he was used to driving in harsh terrain, but the two Jennys were having a time to drive through the forest..

Ash did another swerve to avoid crashing into a mountain wall; he had to put a foot down so he wouldn't fall off the bike as he turned.

"Hey, boss!" Meowth called as he cling onto his master for his life. "One of them has fallen off her bike! There's only one to go!"

Ash look behind him and saw that Meowth was right, one of the Jennys had fallen off her bike and was shaking as she stood up and surveyed her wrecked bike.

"Only one more to go then..." The trainer muttered as he sped up once again and deiced to make it a little more exciting.

He flew through some kind of bush and discovered that there was a small cliff beyond it, the bike landed with a thud.

Meowth informed him that the Jenny had managed to do the same thing and was still after him, she even looked like she was closing in on him.

Ash swerved and a another large mountain wall appeared in his sights, it looked there was a cave in the mountain wall with just enough room to fit his bike... it was a chance he needed to take.

He sped up even more as he felt himself barely able to hold on to his bike as the wind was trying to push him off the bike. But he managed to hold on and as he just entered the pitch black cave .

"Meowth, report." He shouted over the roar of the bike .

"She didn't make it!" The cat responded him with a shout, Ash could also feel that he smirking. "She had to stop outside, I think that she's giving up, boss!"

"That's good, I think I see a clearing." The trainer muttered as he saw some light at the end of the dark, damp tunnel.

He slowed down as he saw the hole approach, he still couldn't believe how they had manage to drive through the mountain at full speed on a motorcycle without falling.

The sun was shining and he stopped his bike to try and get his bearings.

He could see trees, that was for certain, lots of trees. It was like he recognized the surroundings, but he couldn't put a finger on what it was...

Then it struck him.

This was the place where he had battled and captured his first pokemon, Caterpie!

He sighed, he knew that his butterfly was probably dead by this time, wild bug pokemon didn't live for a long time in this harsh environment... but, who knows? Maybe he'll see him again... maybe.

He was on Route 2 now... that meant that he was somewhere in the between Pewter City and Pallet Town, where should he go? He didn't really want to meet his friends just yet, heck, he didn't even want to do this at all... but he had his reasons for why he was here.

He finally decided, it had been a long time ago since he seen the rest of his pokemon...

* * *

"And then I met a Celibi! A little one! And there was also the boy that I had given the Pikachu to and..." The former professor Oak was now ranting on about something he had done in his youth for Brock, but Brock only listened halfheartedly as he watched the professor with a sad smile. "... and then the Celibi became a giant tree monster and..."

Samuel Oak's voice was interrupted by a ringing noise,that made Brock hurry up from his seat and excuse himself as he hurried over to the door and opened it up.

"Hello, Brock." Smiled a man with navy blue hair, beside him stood two women, one with blue hair and one with chestnut brown hair. "How does it feel getting married?"

"Great, thanks! Mr. and Mrs. Maple and Mrs. Berlitz!" The breeder laughed and greeted the parents of his friends. "How have you been?"

"Very well, Brock." Mrs. Maple smiled. "But, please, just Caroline, Norman and Johanna will do."

"Sure thing!" Brock laughed a little sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "I'll introduce you to my fiancé!"

The breeder led them in and opened the door to the room where the guests were and saw... that it was just females in there?

"Norman! Caroline! Johanna!" Lola smiled as she walked up to them and greeted them each with a hug . "Let me introduce you to Holly!"

After the introductions were done, Brock asked something that he wanted to know since he first entered the room.

"Mum, where's Gary, Max and the others? Shouldn't they be here too?"

"Oh, Brock!" Lola laughed a bit as she stroke his cheek nonchalantly. "We have a lot to do and we just don't have enough manpower!"

"Don't worry," Caroline joined the conversation with a smile. "I'm sure that Norman can help, right sweetie?"

"What?!" The gym leader looked around in confusion. "Hold on! I haven't agreed on anyth...."

"That's so nice of you!" Lola chirped. "Brock, can you show Norman to the gym so he can help Forrest, Max and Paul to clean it up? You can also help while you're there!"

"What?" Brock groaned, he thought that it had passed. "You can't just go and tell guests to do..."

"Less talk, more work!" Half of the room shouted at them, making Norman and Brock hurry out the room as fast as their feet could carry them, they didn't even dare to look behind them.

It was like this for the whole day, not even Lt. Surge dared to say anything against the women as they commanded him to take care of a tree that they thought had been in the way.

All of the Kanto gym leaders that had responded the invite had come too.

Brock had been surprised to one of them, but she didn't say much as she looked at him.

First, there was the inhumanly tall Lt. Surge with his blond, short hair and black eyes, he had laughed and congratulated Brock with a 'pat' on the back that made the poor breeder fall face first onto the floor.

Then the grass trainer with green eyes and blue hair, dressed in a green kimono, Erika, had come. She had given Brock a hug, much to the breeder's surprise, and gave him some kind of unique plant, which he couldn't the name of, but Holly seemed to like it.

The person that had surprised him most was the last person, she was dressed in white jeans and had a red shirt that reached halfway down towards her knees, she had her dark green hair in its usual style and her deep blue eyes were piercing as always.

But the thing that had freaked Brock out the most was when she laughed and hugged him like they had known each other forever and knew everything about each other... well, she probably knew everything about him by now...

There they were, Lt. Surge, Erika and Sabrina. Lt. Surge had been forced away, a little brutally, by the females of the Harrison family, while Sabrina and Erika had started to talk with the other female guests.

Brock still couldn't believe how the girls had managed to make the men do all the work, but he stopped cleaning up the gym as he heard some new voices approach the door... when was this day going to end?

**End of chapter 6**

* * *

**A little short? Yeah, I know : /**

**Was the thing in the beginning aura? Maybe, maybe not, I'm not going to take that way in this story (My next story will be based on it)**

**Looks like the girls can command both Lt. Surge and Paul... is there someone they can't control!?**

**Ash is now and visiting his pokemon... so why don't you tell me what pokemon he should bring? (Pikachu, Meowth and Garchomp are already included for different reasons) If you only say what pokemon he should bring in the review it will be ignored...**

**It's better to review later than never and I'll be seeing you in the next chapter!**

**R&R!  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**This is probably one of my shortest chapter that I've done, but I just don't have the time right now to update so you have to forgive me :/**

**Anyway, I would like to thank (As usual) Justicez for checking over my story and correcting every chapter (So if you like it, don't forget to blame/thank him too!)**

**Drew fans be warned (Not that I think that it's so many here :P) There will be Drew-bashing in this story... too...**

**There's nothing more than say:**

**Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review at the end of it! (It seems to work every time I threaten with review-limit ^^)**

**R&R  
**

* * *

"I'm back." Were the only words the trainer, in a dark brown Stetson hat and trench-coat, said before he got tackled to the ground by all his pokemon.

"Looks like they're happy to see you, boss." The cat snickered slightly as he saw his master being crushed by all his beloved pokemon. "You might have trained them a little too well."

"Meganium!" The plant pokemon cried out happily as she rubbed her head against her master, he hadn't been to the Oak Ranch in years!

"It's good to see you guys too." Ash coughed as he finally got away from Snorlax. "Unfortunately, I can't stay very long... I need to get to a wedding..."

His pokemon sighed in frustration and sadness, and Ash didn't feel too good either.

"Look, I don't want to go... but I need to go for it." He shook his head, he knew that neither of that made sense, he couldn't even explain why he had traveled to attend the wedding in the first place... but there was something, some unknown force that was pushing him towards it. "I need to pick some pokemon, who's in?"

All of his pokemon roared and lined up, none of them wanted to be left out when there was a possibility for battling; it's a shame that Ash could only bring six with him.

"Let's see..." The trainer seemed to think as he walked forth and back in front of the line. "Pikachu and Meowth are for certain."

His pokemon nodded, they knew that he didn't want to leave either Pikachu or Meowth here on the farm for different reasons, and they accepted that.

"I think that I can use Garchomp a little more." Ash nodded and recalled his dragon type. "But the last three…."

"Excuse me?"

Ash jumped slightly and his pokemon started to glare and growl as they watched the little kid in front of them.

"What?" The darkness in Ash's voice made the little child to tremble, he seemed to only be around ten years old or so.

"I... I came to pick my first p...pokemon." He whole body shook as the trainer eyed him. "D... do you k...know where I... I can find P...professor O...Oak?"

"He isn't here at the moment." The death glare Ash sent him made the little boy almost wet his pants and ever choosing this day to become a trainer. "He's away at a wedding in Pewter City."

"Pika!" The rodent agreed and jumped onto the man's shoulder, causing the boy's eyes widen in surprise.

"Excuse me, but is your name Ash Ketchum?" The child had seemed to forget all his fear and nervousness as he looked at the shady man. "THE Ash Ketchum? The one that got Pikachu as a starter?"

"Who's asking?" The man's voice seemed to be a little softer, but it didn't help that his pokemon hadn't let their guard down just yet. "I said: Who's asking?"

The boy snapped out from his thoughts and looked directly at the man's face which was partially hidden by his hat.

"My name is Peter, and I want to be a pokemon master!" Peter stood proudly with his back straight as he looked to the sky. "The people of Kanto shall know my name and when they hear it and they will..."

Ash had stopped listening to him as soon as he heard his name, he only yawned and randomly recalled three pokemon and said a quick goodbye to his other pokemon before he got on his motorcycle and took off in an unknown direction... all that while the boy stood there by himself and continue to talk about how he was going to defeat everyone in his path... unfortunately, only a Caterpie was listening to his speech.

* * *

"I told you we should have taken the train here!"

Brock winced slightly at the harsh tone of the voice as he was about to open the door, he didn't know who the voice belonged to... but it wasn't someone he wanted to piss off at the moment.

"Well, if you didn't spend three hours doing your hair we would've been here by now!"

Brock smiled as he recognized the female voice, he had to admit that it sounded much sweeter compared to the first time he met her.

Brock opened the door with a big smile and saw Harley, Zoey and May.

The 'male' of the group was wearing his usual Cacturne-costume with his long purple hair, he looked as feminine as ever... however he was about a half head taller than Brock.

One of his female companions had red hair that reached down to her neck, she had stopped wearing it in a 'bush' and had it straightened, she was also wearing a costume that was more for a man than a woman... you could say that she was the most masculine in the group.

And the third, Brock was glad that he had gotten over his womanizing, otherwise he would've fainted when she saw the girl with brown hair who had just reached the age of 18.

She was dressed in a black skirt that reached her knees, as well as a blue and white tank top that showed enough cleavage to make every guy, even the married ones, to stare(and possibly faint) when she walked past them.

She had longer hair though, and instead of it falling on either side of her head as it was in the past, it fell over her back and almost reached her waist in such way that some people would say that she was an angel. In other words: She was smoking hot.

"Brock!" May cried out and jumped on him as she enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug. "It's so good to see you!"

"Yeah, same here, May." Was all Brock could muster to say as he slowly took his hands off the brunette. "How have you been?"

"Great, thanks!" May smiled as she then made a gesture towards her companions. "You remember Zoey?"

"How could I forget?" Brock smiled as he shook the fire haired coordinator's hand. "How are you?"

"Good, Brock, thanks." Zoey smiled as she nodded and stepped behind the male of the group, bringing him into view.

"Brocky!" Squealed the... man?... as he threw himself on top of Brock and hugged him with all his might. "How is my favorite man today?!"

Brock could hear a lot of heavy coughing as he saw Zoey and May trying to stifle their laughter. He got up from the ground and brushed himself off before he glared a little at his soon to be siste... brother in law.

"First of, would you please get off me?" Brock begged him with pleading eyes as May and Zoey broke down into laughter. "Second, I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"We need to see Holly at once!" May commanded with an excited voice as she pushed through Brock and was followed by her companions. "It was nice seeing you, Brock!"

"Hold it!" Brock cried out and managed to grab onto Zoey's arm, the others had already disappeared into the kitchen. "Where's Barry? I thought that he was going to come with you."

The coordinator got an annoyed look, it was clear that she wasn't too fond of the blond trainer.

"He had something 'important' to do... so he said that he would come later." Zoey shook her head. "Seriously, Brock, I have no idea why you invited him."

"Neither do I." The breeder laughed lightly before Zoey disappeared into the kitchen to greet the other guests.

* * *

"This is so wrong!" Shouted the man in his loud voice as he lifted a boulder that would normally take three men to do. "How come we're the only ones that need to work!?"

"Because they want us to take our quests to heart and..."

"If you EVER say that line again I will personally neuter you!" Lt. Surge roared at the former Pewter City gym leader. "They only want to make this wedding so it would suit a fa..."

"I dare you to finish that sentence, Surge." Said a cold voice that made every male in the room feel a shiver down their spines. "Remember that there are minors in the house."

"What are you going to do? Mess around with my brain?" The former army lieutenant smirked. "Do that, and see if you find anything you like."

"I'm not interested in your perverted thoughts." Sabrina the gym leader stated as her eyes started to glow. "But I can do much worse things to you."

"What the hell!?" Surge roared as he was lifted up into the air by an invisible force. "Let me down!"

"Hi, guys!" Came a more cheerful voice from a certain brunette. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've met."

The girl walked towards the floating Surge and shook his hand. "My name is May Maple, I'm a friend of the bride!"

"Nice to meet you, miss." Lt. Surge's eyes never let the psychic master. "Can you tell that brat to put me down?"

"Sabrina," May begged as she looked at her new friend. "We're not here to start a fight; can you please let him down?"

"May!" Another brunette yelled, but this one was male.

The female brunette looked around and saw the new Professor Oak approach her with at high speeds, he looked kinda spaced out.

"Hi, Gary," May smiled with a smile that could make any guy's heart melt. "How have you been?"

"You look great."

"Sorry?"

"I mean..." Gary quickly regretted his words as he started to blush and look around for support, but Sabrina, Flint, Surge and Paul all stood there with smirks on their faces. "Good?"

"Don't scare away our guests, Gary." Brock laughed as he entered the gym and patted him on the back. "Who thought that you would be the one to turn out as a the next Brock-Junior?"

The whole room laughed at that sentence and made Gary's embarrassment even greater.

"Yeah, he has always been lucky with the girls... it's a shame to see that it isn't like that any longer."

"Don't start that, Misty!" Gary shouted furiously at the newest arrival. "You don't have to be like that just because you finally got a date!"

"What was that!?" A strange, red aura seemed to surround Misty and her eyes seemed to have a fire in them as she glared at the researcher. "Say that again!?"

"I... I..." Gary slowly started to back away, but he backed straight into the tall blond man.

"Hold it, kiddo." Lt. Surge smirked. "I think we deserve a little show after all our hard work!"

"It's funny." He then continued. "There's only one person that's missing... what happened to the guy with the Pikachu?"

Deafening silence followed that question, Gary and Brock looked at each other nervously, Sabrina seemed to smile a mysterious smile, Misty looked around curiously, May had a strange look on her face that nobody could read... and Paul only smirked.

"Speaking of Ash..." Paul's voice broke the silence. "I met him a while ago... you remember him, May?"

"What makes you say that!?" May snapped, the power behind her voice was so strong that it somehow caused Lt. Surge, Misty, Flint and Sabrina to leave for different reasons... some forced, some not.

Only Brock, Gary, Paul and May were left in the room, two of them trembled, one of them smirking and the last one also shaking, but it was due to a different reason.

"I don't know, you tell me.... heart-breaker." The taunting smile on Paul's face made May to stomp over to him... but before she could reach the Pyramid Master she was stopped by Brock and Gary.

"Calm down, May!" Gary cried out. "Remember what you said, we're not here to start a fight!"

His words seemed to calm May down as she stopped in her tracks but she didn't avert her hateful glare from the Pyramid Master.

"Tell me, coordinator." Paul continued to speak. "How does it feel to break his heart? It took me years to try and beat him physically in Sinnoh, and even after that I didn't succeed... and yet it took you a few minutes to break his heart... I'm impressed."

"Shut up!" May roared at him in pure anger. "You don't know anything!"

"Why don't you tell us then, May?" Brock tried to reason with her as well as to calm her down. "Why do you and Ash hate each other?"

"Y... you know?" May asked with her eyes wide.

Both the breeder and researcher nodded slowly and had slightly ashamed looks on their faces.

May glared at the Pyramid Master, she suspected that he had told them, she then sighed and started.

"It's quite simple." She shook her head. "We had a little argument, we departed and when I tried to look him up to talk... he called me things that nobody wants to hear... then he threw his half of the ribbon in my face and stormed off."

"Did Ash really do that?" Gary asked with his eyebrows raised, why did Ash not mention that before? "Are you sure that you're not missing anything?"

"It was years ago!" May shouted at him. "He acted like a jerk towards me both times we met! What should I have done!?"

"Stop being such a bitch..." Paul was lucky that only Brock heard that line.

"I still don't believe that he would do such thing..." Gary seemed to hesitate. "I remember how he treasured that half ribbon... he would never just throw it away like that."

"He wouldn't?" May frowned as she reached inside her fanny-pack that she still wore and took out a ribbon... a ribbon split in two. "It seems pretty certain to me."

"But... can't you just forgive him?"

"Why should I!?" May shrieked, it took a minute before she calmed down. "He hurt me! He called me things! He threw something we had won together right in my face! He betrayed me! That short, immature, little childish jerk abandoned me!"

After those words she inhaled heavily before she stormed off, leaving Brock, Gary and Paul in an uncomfortable silence.

"That was.... interesting?" Gary said after a moment, Paul only nodded lightly.

"Every story has two sides to it; sometimes they can be really different though." Brock shook his head. "I don't know who I should believe anymore... what do you guys think?"

"I'm sorry..." Gary sighed. "But I think May's right... I can't picture May doing the things she did in Ash's story."

"Ash was right." Paul only said as he walked pass the breeder and researcher to exit the gym. "On both accounts."

"And what's the second thing?" Brock demanded to know as he followed the battle brain's every step.

"His 'friends' are really weak minded."

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Gary's temper had gotten a hold of him again and he walked towards Paul. "What do you mean 'weak minded'!?"

Paul only sighed tiredly as he looked at the researcher. "Aren't you supposed to be the smart one?"

"Please, tell us." Brock groaned, he was tired of the fact that everyone was talking in riddles.

"You never thought as to why May had both parts of the ribbon in her bag?" With those words he left the two males to their thoughts.

After a moment of silence Gary decided to speak. "Why DID she have the ribbon anyway?"

"Does it matter?" Brock sighed. "I'm going to get scolding from Holly and mum when I exit the gym..."

"I feel for you, pal." Gary patted him on the back. "I'm planning on taking the back door."

"You're not going anywhere!" Brock growled as he grabbed the back of Gary's sweater. "We're both equally guilty and are going to face the music together!"

He then dragged Gary off and ignored the researcher's pleading and whining as he was being dragged out of the gym... there were several women with death-glares, waiting for them just outside.

* * *

"What did you do?!!?" Was the collective shout of the twenty odd women who were waiting for the poor researcher and breeder, Paul had somehow managed to escape their death grip. "What were you thinking?!!"

"What DID we do!?" Gary shouted back, he had enough of all this unnecessary yelling. "Tell us what we did and we will explain!"

"How about how you made May tear up by mentioning you-know-who?" Holly asked with her arms crossed, several others were mimicking her. "Don't make me choose between my fiancé and my best friend."

"And don't make me choose between my fiancé and MY best friend!" Brock had enough of all this, he stood up and faced the army of girls, looking much braver than he felt. "May is your best friend and she's like a sister to me too, but Ash is like a brother to me and has saved my life for as long as I can remember! He has been prepared to sacrifice his life several times for us and our world! And what did this world do for him? Huh? What did it!?"

Gary watched with wide eyes as his friend stood up for somebody that he wouldn't really class as a friend now, then he shivered a little as he thought of the reactions of the girls... he slowly turned around to face the herd of bloodthirsty females.

"Brock..." Was everything Holly could say. "I.. forgot, I'm sorry."

The breeder only nodded and they both subsequently crushed each other in a hug.

Gary was dumbfound, what just happened here!? And why are the other females not surprised at all!? He was going crazy... he knew it.

Suddenly, they saw a long, white limo that had just arrived... it completely ignored the fire hydrant in front of the house and parked by the gate, it was also blaring very loud music that could be heard from outside the limo.

Everyone crowded around the limo and all the single girls started to check their hair and clothes, because the person who owned the car had to be rich!

The door opened and revealed a green head, but the hair was greasy and looked like it hadn't been washed for days and was pointing out in every direction in a very un-sexy way... some of the girls had lost interest by this time, but there were still some that seemed to ignore that and look excitedly towards the door.

They waited, waited and waited and.... waited.

But the person couldn't move! The driver quickly ran to the person that and gave him a helping hand.

Now everybody could see the person's round face that was red and covered with sweat due to the physical exertion of just getting out the car.

He wore some kind of black kimono, but that didn't help in hiding his really unfit body as he strode....more like waddled.... towards the group with a confident smirk.

By now, all the girls had lost hope and only looked with disgust at the over-sized greenette that was walking towards them with a look that nobody could take as nice.

"Drew..." Brock mumbled dumbfound. "What's he doing here?"

Gary could see that Ash had been wrong, he wasn't as 'big as a house', but he wasn't too far off though…

"I got your invitation." Came a voice that caused some girls to choke in disgust, some of them even them tried to sneak away from the man in front of them. "It's after all no surprise that somebody like me would have gotten an invitation to such a big social event!"

"T... thanks..." Holly seemed to hesitate, but Brock knew him, so that means that he couldn't be all bad... right? "W... why don't you make yourself comfortable inside?"

"A wonderful idea!" The former coordinator nodded as he took out a walking stick to help waddle his way to the house. "I shall lighten up your house with my presence!"

"Thanks?" Holly was feeling really awkward as she tried to ignore the stench of sweat mixed with expensive perfume that followed the man as he was walked past her. She didn't know how in the name of Mew that Brock could've met up with someone like that!

"Holly!" She was snapped out from her thoughts by her fiancé. "Why did you invite Drew?"

"I... I thought he was a... friend of yours." She stuttered slightly as she tried to hide her embarrassment. "He wasn't?"

"No," Brock regretted his words then. "Or, I didn't talk to him enough to know him and..."

His words were halted by the screams of children from inside the house... the kids had probably just laid their eyes on the green abomination that was dressed in a black kimono .

Brock and Gary were about to run inside and assist the children... that was until they heard a loud roaring sound that seemed to be getting closer and closer.

They turned around and saw...

**End of chapter 7**

* * *

**Hadn't used a cliffhanger in a while, so I decided that it was time to use one XD**

**It looks pretty clear whose side Paul has taken... will the wedding be divided into to sides with one that supports Ash and the other one May? Will Ash even come to the wedding? Will I ever stop asking questions that I already know the answer of?  
Stay tuned for the next chapter!**

**It's better to review later than never and I'll be seeing you in the next chapter!**

**R&R!**

**(P/s: I've put up a hidden review-limit in my head... so you better review, all of you!)  
**


	8. Chapter 8

**Wow, I didn't expect to get 47 reviews on the last chapter... even thought some of them could have been a little nicer... So, let's learn to control our bad language (it's quite simple, for every insulting review I get... I will only delay the next chapter (which is already in for correction) XD)**

**All of you thought that it was Ash that came to the wedding in this chapter... well, let's see! I'm going to give you a flashback on when Ash 'decided' to come to the wedding!**

**I will not threaten with a review-limit now, but the chapter will actually get there faster the more (nice) reviews I get :P**

**You think I'm a bit too harsh? You haven't even seen me harsh yet...**

**Anyway, here's the next chapter, don't forget to review at the end of it!**

**R&R  
**

* * *

_The Day Before The Previous Chapter..._

* * *

Sand was being kicked up as a lone motorcycle plough its way through the desert. The cat, Meowth, and mouse, Pikachu, looked worryingly at their master. He hadn't been this frustrated in a long time, and it scared them a bit.

"Boss! Look out!" Meowth screeched as they almost ran into a sand dune. "Where exactly did you get your license!"

"Pikachu, Pi!" The little mouse responded "Chu!"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot." The cat would've rubbed the back of head if it weren't for the fact that he needed to hold onto his master so as not to fall off the bike. "Hey, boss! What do you say about taking a little break here?"

The two pokemon sighed in relief as he slowed his bike down and came to a stop. He calmly got off it and walked a little ways away from the bike while deep in thought.

"Pika Pi!" Pikachu had enough; he hit his master hard in the head with his tail and sent his master's hat floating to the ground

"What!" Ash snapped as he bent down to retrieve his hat. "What do you want?"

"You've been kinda spaced out since you met Geek-Twerp and Tall-Twerp." Meowth exclaimed as he sat down beside Ash and motioned him to do the same. "Mind telling me what's wrong?"

The trainer shook his head as a small smile tugged at his mouth and placed himself down next to the cat, others might find him cold and dark, but his pokemon knew his true self... at least that's what they thought.

"Okay, Meowth." Ash sighed. "I've been having some things on my mind since they left."

The pokemon nodded his head as he placed himself a little closer to his trainer to show his support.

"You're missing your friends, isn't it?" Meowth smiled a bit. "You wanted to go with them and meet your friends and stand beside the Tall Twerp as he finally gets married."

Ash didn't say anything, but both Pikachu and Meowth could see him nod...

They sat in silence for a while, neither of them said anything.

Suddenly, a little smirk was visible on Pikachu's face, and that smirk soon turned into laughter as he started to roll around on the ground clutching his stomach.

Soon, both Ash and Meowth were laughing as they thought of recent events.

"Y... yeah!" Ash laughed even harder. "W-why wouldn't I want to go with... them!"

"You almost got us there, boss!" Meowth joined Pikachu as they rolled on the floor laughing. "We almost believed you for a second!"

"Pikahahahahaa!" Was the only sound that came from the yellow pokemon as it had a hard time breathing from all the laughter.

After five or six minutes, the laughter had died down and they all sat against the bike, and enjoyed each other's company. Ash had thought about releasing his pokemon, but he cast that thought aside as he remembered that they wouldn't be on this place for a longer time.

"But, seriously, boss." Meowth looked at him with serious eyes. "Do you really want to attend the wedding?"

"No." Ash stated honestly as he shook his head. "I would never do that, I meant every word that I said to Brock and Gary."

He watched the sun set in the horizon before he countered Meowth's question with one of his own. "Do you want to go to the wedding?"

"And get harassed by people just because I can talk? Sure." The cat said sarcastically. "We have it much better here."

"Much better." Ash nodded and his first companion agreed with a "Pika".

The trainer rose from the ground and went to check on his motorcycle, he needed to prepare it for a long ride since they were going to the north of Orre to look for work.

"Fuck!" Was the sound that startled the two small pokemon as they quickly looked towards their master with confused looks.

"What's wrong, boss?" The two small creatures ran up to their trainer and wanted to see what was the matter. "Is something broken?"

"The gas..." The trainer mumbled. "I don't know if we have enough to get us to the next town..."

"Why can't you just let Garchomp fly it over to the next town?" Meowth frowned. "It won't take that long, and he can carry all of us too!"

"I can't let him carry my bike!" Ash stated as he looked towards his pokemon as though they were crazy.

"Why not?"

"He has claws."

"So?"

"So! My bike can't get scratched!" Ash growled to his pokemon, couldn't they understand the importance of keeping a motorcycle in good condition? "Do you want us to drive a bike with a scratch on it?"

"It isn't a big deal." Meowth frowned as he shook his head at his master. "C'mon, it's just a bike."

"One more word and I will paralyze you with Pikachu's Thunder Wave, pack you into a box and then send you to Harrison's wedding with a note that you can be their 'flower-pokemon'" Ash threatened as he glared at his pokemon.

"Bring it on..." The cat extended his claws and growled at his trainer as Ash's eyes started to glow bright blue.

"Pika!" The mouse interrupted the two of them with a shout and glared at the both of them. "Pikachu! Pi-pi Pika!"

"You're right." The trainer sighed. "I'm sorry, Meowth, but you know how I get when... you know."

"I understand." The cat had a slightly embarrassed look on its face. "I shouldn't have brought it up."

"Let's just forget it and move onto the next city." Ash smiled weakly. "Let's chance it and hope that we'll have enough gas to get there."

"Sure/Pi!" The two pokemon cheered and jumped onto their respective seats with big smiles. "Let's go, boss!"

"Way ahead of you." Ash smiled and seated himself on the bike and took off at great speeds that made the sand fly around him as even the shadows appeared to have problems catching up with the bike...

* * *

_Five hours later..._

* * *

"Incoming! Three o'clock!" Meowth cried out as he took position at on the great dragon's tail.

"Pidgeot! Aerial Ace!" Ash roared as he steered his pokemon, Garchomp, into a deep dive and avoided the huge flame which just grazed the dragon's right wing.

"Piiiiidgeoooot!" The large and powerful bird shrieked in anger and powered up as he rammed into his opponent, a Dragonite, with great force.

The enemy-dragon cried out in pain as he felt himself getting pierced by the bird's beak and lost some altitude, but he then regained his senses and continued to pursue his target.

"Dragonite!" Called a man with short, white hair and anger burning in his eyes as he rode on his Skarmory some ways behind the dragon. "Fire another Flamethrower!"

The legendary dragon opened his mouth and released another flame towards the moving target that was trying to get away from him.

"Pikachu! Use Thunderbolt to take down that freak!" Ash roared. "Pidgeot! Use Whirlwind to disperse that flame!"

The bird placed itself in front of the flame, and started to beat its wings with all his might as he tried to keep the flame away from hitting them.

They could see the flame slowly get pushed away but then Dragonite got the upper hand once more and both Pidgeot and Garchomp needed to swerve sharply to avoid the attack.

The Flamethrower sailed under Garchomp and burned a small part of something very precious to the owner of the pokemon in question.

"What the hell!" Ash cried out in surprise and anger as he saw the flame hit his bike's tailpipe. "What the fuck did you do that for!"

"I'm going to get you!" The man roared, blinded by anger. You could say that he was so angry that he didn't even notice that his Dragonite got struck by Pikachu's Thunderbolt and was sent crashing towards the ground.

"You don't even know his name!" Meowth taunted the unknown man.

"He slept with Josephine!" The man tried to get his pokemon to fly faster so he could attack his target by any means possible.

"That was a week ago!" Ash called back as he groaned. "Get over it!"

"She was my girlfriend!"

"Well, she didn't say anything to me!"

"I'm going to kill you!"

Ash sighed, they were never going to be rid of the man, especially since Garchomp was carrying both the bike (That was out of gas...), as well as Meowth, Pikachu and it's master. There was only one thing to do.

The raven haired teen closed his eyes slowly, closed out his surroundings, he suddenly could see everything in pure energy, he could see every movement around himself... he focused on the man on the Skarmory.

"Meowth, Pikachu, a weak Water Pulse and Thunderbolt." The voice Ash spoke with was in harmony and the calm itself and his pokemon obeyed him with no hesitation.

Meowth opened his mouth and forced up a weak pulse of water that hit the Skarmory square on, at the same time as Pikachu unleashed a Thunderbolt, that could be in the same class as a Thunder Wave, that hit at the targets

Both Skarmory and the unknown man cried out in pain as the attack was sent coursing through them, soon they fainted and started to fall towards the ground.

"Pidgeot, give them a safe landing."

Ash's great and colorful bird nodded and dived towards their opponents and grabbed them with his claws so they could get a softer landing... well, at least a survivable landing anyway.

The blue light disappeared as Ash opened his eyes, a little mark of sweat had formed on his forehead, he looked around and could see Pidgeot flying at their side, and Pikachu and Meowth stood there with smirks on their face.

"Well, boss." Meowth smirk grew even bigger. "Looks like the day has finally come, you slept with the police chief's son's girlfriend!"

"She didn't tell me anything..." Ash mumbled, slightly embarrassed. "And that was a week ago, when was he going to get over it?"

"It doesn't matter." Meowth shook his head. "What matters now is this: Where are we going? We can't stay here in Orre since we can't risk the same thing... so, which region are we headed for?"

"I don't know... Johto?" He hadn't been to Johto for a while and some of the islands were human-free...

"Pikachu, Pika?" The little rodent asked with a tilted head, causing Meowth and Ash to stare at him.

"What do you mean that we should go to Harrison's wedding?" Ash asked, his voice filled with disbelief. "I thought that we don't live that life anymore."

"Pika! Pikachu! Pi, pika-pi chu!" The little mouse waved its paws angrily at the cat and trainer. "Pika! Pi-pi-pi Pika!"

"What do you mean by 'it's our duty to attend'?" Ash asked with a frown. "What did they ever do to us?"

"Pikachu! Pika!" The mouse simply stated as he sat himself down with his back turned towards Ash and Meowth.

The cat and trainer looked at each other with disbelieving looks.

"Pikachu's right, boss." Meowth talked slowly and tried to pick the right words. "They actually were there for you when you needed them, at least in the beginning anyway."

"Forget it." Ash shook his head. "I'm not going back!"

"See it as... an extra vacation?" Meowth prayed that it would work, he didn't even know why he was even trying to convince his master to do this... "You need some time away from battles and work... that's all we've been doing."

"Why can't we just..."

"If we got to a place where no one lives, we will just start training all day and night, and we all know it." Meowth shook his head once again with a small smile on his face. "Besides, think of the possibility of battling The Elite Four!"

Ash held his comeback and looked at the cat with suspicion.

"You're sure that the Elite Four of all regions are going to be there?" Ash asked with a raised eyebrow, even thought his hat hid the most of it. "All of them?"

"I'm sure." Meowth nodded with a smirk.

Ash didn't say a thing, he only turned himself towards his dragon and whispered something to it. The dragon roared and headed towards the ocean.

Behind Ash's back, Meowth gave Pikachu a thumbs up... but then he was still trying to figure out what exactly possessed him to make his master go to the wedding...

* * *

_End of flashback..._

* * *

Brock and Gary stood there, with the rest of the girls that hadn't run away from the recent abomination, and watched in both hope and confusion as the roaring sound came closer.

Brock didn't want to get his hopes up too high about who it was, but he really hoped that it would be a certain cold, raven haired trainer that he had met up with not so long ago...

The sound was now so close that they could hear that it was definitely one from an engine, not a pokemon, a really powerful one that was causing Pidgeys to flee from their shelter in the trees.

Brock's and Gary's hope died as they saw a white jeep with black tinted windows and really big wheels come roaring towards them.

On the license-plate were specially-designed letters that spelt: "B DA CHAMPION".

Brock got a slightly bad feeling about who it might be.

The jeep stopped in front of them, close to Drew's limo, and the door opened.

The girls didn't get looks of disgust, but they got looks of disappointment when they saw a blond-headed person, with a rather childlike face with a dumb look on it as well as a rather self important demeanor attempted to get out of the car.

"Hello, friends!" Came a high and energetic voice as the man fell out of his car. "I'm Barry! The Sinnoh Champion!"

"_Former_ Sinnoh Champion!" Came an unidentified voice from somewhere in the crowd, that caused Barry to look around with a wild look in his eyes. But the the blond only cleared his throat and walked up to Holly as he withdrew a pen from an unknown place.

"You're the bride?" He asked as he tried to sound important, but the mix of his voice and the important tone made several girls to giggle at the obvious shi... man.

"Y... yes." Holly really didn't like this person, he made her feel awkward.

"Which one would you like it on?" Barry clicked the pen and then made a motion towards two of Holly's special body parts.

The reactions were mixed, girls gasped in surprise and some of them made gaging noises, and Gary was busy restraining Brock from beating the shit out of Barry.

"Excuse me!" Holly clearly seemed offended as she back away from the man. "I don't know who you are, but you know Brock and I invited you for the wedding for it. Please get in the house and don't make me regret inviting you here!"

The crowd stood there dumbfound at Holly's outburst, she was still full of surprises.

The blond man, Barry, slowly walked towards the house and muttered something about 'fining you' and 'I'm still the best trainer', but nobody could hear what he was really talking about.

"You OK?"

Holly was snapped out from her thoughts by a calm breeder that seemed to have gotten over his fury as he stood there smiling at his fiancé.

"Yeah..." She laughed a bit as she noticed that they were the only ones out there, the rest of the crowd had already reentered the house. "Let's go inside."

They were about to open the door when they heard a heated argument, they slowly opened the door and saw a beautiful brunette arguing with a not-so-beautiful greenette...

"I'm telling you, May!" The sweat was pouring down from Drew's red face as he glared at the brunette. "If you only had used your Blaziken instead of Skitty in that last contest you would've won easily!"

"I still won, didn't I!" May roared in anger and her eyes were filled with lightning. "Why don't you attend at a contest for once and see how easy it is!"

"You battle too much like a trainer than coordinator!" Drew breathed heavily, but it was probably because he had to stand up and wasn't able to sit down. "I'm telling you, if you just hadn't spent so much time with Ketc..."

"Don't you DARE mention his name!" May's voice was even more powerful that the one she had used towards Paul, some of the grown-ups even looked like they were about to soil their pants. "I don't want to see either HIM or YOU! Get it!"

Drew only mumbled something that some would take as 'bitch', or something similar, as he walked away to scare some children and look for a chair that didn't break when he sat down.

"Show's over people!" said a certain blond man, the ones who had already seen him sighed. "Because here comes the star of the show!... hey! Where are you going?"

Brock couldn't take it. He, and many others, decided that it was better to just ignore the former champion, Brock decided that it was time to get some fresh air... again.

He closed the door after himself, and took a big sigh of relief, who would have known that weddings were so hard to plan? What was next…?

He shook his head of those kind of thoughts and started to walk, he felt the stone clinking on the ground and smiled, he really loved the feeling of stone... though it made no sense to others...

He straightened himself up when he heard another roaring sound in the distance, but it then stopped suddenly and he didn't hear anything more... that was until some voices broke through the silence of the evening.

"Come on, boss, what's the worst thing that could happen?" Came a rather husky voice from behind a pair of bushes.

"Gee, I don't know." Came a sarcastic and deep voice in response. "What about this: I get to meet everyone that I don't want to meet?"

"_It couldn't be..._" Brock stood there dumbfound as he was half in a daze and was half listening to the conversation. "_Ash?_"

"Don't worry, boss, let's get in there and kick some ass!" Meowth cried out in support of his master as he tried to cheer him up a bit. "Remember, everyone should be happy at a wedding!"

"What kind of idiot would say that kind of thing...?" The trainer mumbled annoyed as he continued to walk towards the house. "I was hoping that most of them were asleep by now... not that everyone was partying!"

"Hey, boss, look!" Meowth's voice rang again as you could hear the footsteps stop for a moment. "Get a look of this!"

"What is it?" Ash frowned a bit. "Don't forget that humans can't see as well in the dark as Meowths can."

"You should probably read this." Even if Brock couldn't see anything he could feel the smirk that the cat had on his face.

"Pikachu, help illuminate this thing."

There was a weak "Chuu..." and some sparkles lit up the surroundings around the rodent, that allowed Ash to look at the item in question.

"'B DA CHAMPION'...? What kind of idiot has that for a license plate...?"

The only thing Brock heard was of both Meowth and the rodent whispering to their master with eager voices, he could see from Ash's shadow that Ash had stiffened when he heard what they were saying.

Brock saw Ash's reach into his coat and took something, then threw it in the air to reveal a giant pokemon of some sort.

"Garchomp, you remember how I told you not to eat people's belongings that are made of metal?" He heard Ash's voice ask.

The pokemon seemed to nod at that.

"Well, forget what I said for now. Eat up."

The breeder then heard some scraping noises and got a terrified look on his face.

Brock didn't hesitate anymore, he only ran out from the bushes and up to the terrifying sight that was playing out in front of him.

Ash's Garchomp was eating Barry's big jeep with a delighted expression on its face while Ash, Pikachu and Meowth only stood there with smirks on their faces with not a care in the world.

"Stop!"

Ash turned around to face the breeder with his arms crossed and a deadly glare directed towards him, Meowth had his claws extended and Pikachu's cheeks began to sparkle.

"Well, Brock." Ash said in a casual tone that was laced with venom. "You have two choices, either you calm down and lower your voice, or you'll find your wedding gift very... painful."

The breeder only nodded, he didn't actually care what happened to Barry's belongings, just as long as it didn't ruin the relaxed atmosphere among the guests... most of them anyway.

"Was that Barry's car?"

"Y...yes."

"Good." Ash nodded and reached for something inside his coat, and withdrew some sort of package that was wrapped in white paper and tied with a white ribbon. "Congratulations on finally getting a girl."

Brock ignored the gibe as he only walked up and hugged the uncomfortable Ash, he knew that the old Ash was still in there somewhere.

"Thanks, Ash!" Brock laughed and patted him on the back. "It's nice to see that you've come back!"

"Don't think anything of it." Ash growled as he glared at the breeder with a deadly glare once again. "I only came here because I needed to lay low in Orre for a while... I didn't come here because it is your 'big day', get it?"

Brock's hopes about Ash died as he heard the seriousness in Ash's tone.

"I see, just don't tell Holly anything." Brock begged, he didn't want her to be miserable so close to her wedding. "Please?"

"If she doesn't ask me anything..." Ash only mumbled as he gazed out in the dark. "I won't say anything... but if she asks me... I never lie, Brock."

"I... see..." Brock sighed, he could only hope for a miracle now, but then he lightened up and looked at the trainer with his eyes sparkling(how he did that with his eyes still squinted, Ash will never know). "Since you came, it means that you're my Best Man!"

Ash only looked at the breeder with a bewildered look, and said two words that seemed most fitting at the moment…

"Oh, shit..."

**End of chapter 8**

* * *

**I don't know if you could call this a cliffhanger, I don't see it as one :P**

**Here's a message from my corrector (but I don't see why he wanted me to post it :S):  
**

_**"Beta's note : Hope this chapter was ok as I took quite a while reading it over. I'm sure most of you just cannot wait for the next chapter, in fact Gerbilftw already forwarded the chapter to me, but I'm sorry to say that you might have to wait a few days for it as I have finals over the week and just don't **__**have much time to actually go through.**_

_**Mind you it takes me about 3 hours to look over a short chapter and up to 5 hours for a longer chapter so I would appreciate your patience in waiting for the next chapter. I shall try my very best to get it out by Wednesday, but no guarantees though. -**_ _**Justicez"**_

**(See? It's not ONLY my fault that the updates won't come quicker... okay, it's mostly my fault...)**

**Anyway, the next chapter will be much longer, and it will be more about Ash too!**

**There's not anything else to say than: It's better to review later than never and I'll be seeing you in the next chapter!**

**R&R!  
**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello there! I made the chapter a little longer than normal for an excuse of the previous, short, chapters : /**

**I was actually pretty happy with how this chapter turned out! How? You get to read to find out!**

**There's not anything else to say than: Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review at the end of it!  
**

**R&R!  
**

* * *

The door opened and admitted a certain breeder with a rather blank look on his face, some people might have even caught the slight aura of fear that he had around him, as he walked inside the room and looked around for a certain researcher to have a few words with.

Brock Harrison was lucky, most of the guests had already gone to bed, some at the temporary guest house that was the gym and some at a nearby hotel, but there were still a few guests left that were either sitting in a corner and were half asleep or engaging each other in conversation.

Gary, on the other hand, tried his best to score tonight, he had talked to several girls, all without much success though. Brock figured that it was probably due to his ridiculous little mustache that he still had on his face... but now the researcher stood in a corner, alone, and looked as depressed as ever.

The breeder walked with quietly towards him and felt a tinge of nervousness in his stomach, he didn't know how his friend was going to react to the news he had for him.

"Brock." Was all the brown hair researcher said as he saw his friend.

"Hello, Gary." Brock hid a smirk. "Any luck tonight?"

"Very funny..." Gary frowned and made an attempt to walk away from him, but he got held back by Brock. "What? I've had a bad evening and I'm tired."

"I know." Who, if not Brock, would know how it feels to get rejected time after time? "That's why I rather surprising news for you."

He then leaned close to Gary's ear, the researcher got an uncomfortable look on his face as Brock did so, and whispered three words.

The professor's eyes grew huge as he looked at the smirking breeder in front of him.

"You're shitting me?" He was dumbfound, why would he be here? "Is Ash really here!"

"Shh!" Brock hushed him quickly. "Not so loud, he said that it wouldn't get pretty if people found out that he was here!"

Gary seemed to hesitate, was Brock really sane right now?

"Brock, are you OK?" The researcher slowly backed away a bit.

Brock realized what he had done and laughed sheepishly, he had behaved like a mad man and he had only just noticed it.

"Yea, I'm alright." He laughed slight embarrassed once again. "I'm sorry, I only want you to ignore Ash when he comes in, don't talk to him and don't pretend like you know him... got it?"

Gary shrugged, why not? This evening had been messed up as it was, so why couldn't he pretend to not notice somebody that he had known his whole life?

But then he quickly scanned the surroundings and sighed in relief, none of Ash's close friends were here. It was mostly just Holly's friends who were still awake, the others had gone to bed a long time ago.

He discreetly directed his gaze towards the door and saw it open and reveal a dark man in dark brown clothing walk inside.

Ash's gaze was deadly as he looked around in the room, trying to find any former friends or enemies to avoid. But when he saw that it was clear, he relaxed a bit. He gestured for the rodent to jump onto his shoulder and made a sign to Meowth to follow him.

He slowly walked towards a round table was placed near the rear of the room which had three chairs around it, two of them were occupied.

He didn't speak as he sat down beside the Pyramid Master and the gym leader of Vermillion City. They only nodded at him and didn't either say a word.

"Took you long enough." Paul said, breaking the silence, as he threw a can of beer towards Ash, Ash caught it skillfully with his left hand.

"You know me, I like to make a 'grand entrance'..." The sarcasm was just barely concealed in his voice. "Nice to see you, Surge."

"Same here, Ash." The lieutenant nodded. "Paul here has told me your story... don't worry, women aren't to be trusted."

"I know that." Ash nodded as he looked around the room, he sighed as he saw Gary's failed attempt at trying to appear discreet. "Who's here?"

"Most of your 'friends'" Paul's smirk grew bigger as he saw the blue light in Ash's eyes, he had tasted Ash's fury once and he wouldn't do it again. "You still use that?"

"I can't resist." Ash frowned. "What about you? You still fly around in your overgrown rock?"

"Always, you still ride on that failure of a bicycle?"

"You know me."

There was a moment of silence, then the three males at the table started to laugh, along with the rodent and cat.

"Umm... Paul, Lt. Surge and..." Brock stopped himself as he saw the look Ash was giving him. "You should go to bed, we have a long day of work ahead."

The raven haired trainer frowned at those words. "Work? What kind of work?"

Now it was Surge's turn to speak up. "You see, Ash." He frowned a bit and got a slight look of anger on his face as he thought back on the past events. "The girls here have... how do you say it... been screwing around with us."

"And not in the good way." Paul filled in with dark eyes as he glared at the breeder, like it was all Brock's fault. "They have been a pain in the ass since we got here."

Ash laughed out loud, he clearly offended the lieutenant and Pyramid Master with his laughter, his pokemon soon joined him. A few of the other people who were still awake looked at them as though they were crazy.

"Enough!" Lt. Surge barked as he stood up. "You might think it's funny, but just wait until it's your turn! They will surely get you to work too!"

Ash slowed his laughter and looked at the lieutenant with eyes that would cause a normal man to tremble, but Surge didn't seem moved, before he spoke.

"I would like to see them try."

"Anyway!" Brock quickly interrupted Surge's comeback, he didn't want to risk a battle of some sort so close to his wedding. "We all should get some rest! As you can see, all the other guests have already left."

They looked around and saw that it was true, they were the only ones left in the room.

"I'm sleeping at the Battle Pyramid." Paul stated as he got up and gathered his things. "Anyone needs a place for the night?"

"Sure, I haven't booked a room." Surge stood up and was about to accompany Paul, when he then looked at the raven haired trainer. "What about you?"

"I don't sleep indoors." Ash only stated as he got up and walked out of the house in an unknown direction.

The rest of them only stood there in silence, but then Surge and Paul looked at each other and nodded as they walked out from the room, Brock was sure that he could hear Lt. Surge say something like: "Finally this is getting interesting..."

Brock slowly walked up the stairs and tried not to wake his fiancé up, he opened the door and quietly sneaked inside the covers of their bed. He heard her turn and he cursed his luck, but she seemed to be too tired to talk to him at the moment... so he was lucky, for tonight at least, but who knew what tomorrow was going to bring...

* * *

Brock slowly opened his eyes and a had a slight smile on his face, he had such strange dream.

He had dreamed that Ash had come back and that he was going to get married and.... oh...

He suddenly remembered that it had all happened, he quickly got up from the bed and noticed that he had overslept. It didn't get any better when he heard some people working outside the house... a specific group of males that is...

Brock got a horrified look on his face as he remembered that Ash was here, and Ash was a male, and that meant that the females were going to make him work, and he didn't even want to think of what was going to happen if they tried...

The breeder hurried as quickly as he could down towards the stairs, hoping to find everything calm and peaceful downstairs when he finally got there...

* * *

Five males were lying on the grass, three of them humans and two of them pokemon. One of them was smoking a cigarette and the other one had his eyes closed as he relaxed in the grass. The third male was sitting up and was gazing out towards the house as he saw the other males work for all they were worth, he pitied the fools that had managed to get conned by girls so easily...

But he was sitting there mostly for just one reason, they had a good view of the spot where Barry's car had once stood, and he just couldn't wait for the idiot's reaction when he once finds out that his car has been eaten.

"You want one?" Lt. Surge's made Ash snap out from his thoughts and looked towards the lieutenant who was offering him one of his cigars.

Ash took it and inhaled; he then grimaced and handed it back to the gym leader.

"Didn't like it a year ago and still don't like it now." He responded as he closed his eyes and hummed a little silent melody to himself.

"Hey, what about me?" The lieutenant looked surprised at the cat that was holing out his paw. "Aren't you going to offer me one?"

"Are you..."

"Is it just because I can talk!" The cat's outburst made everyone sweat-drop, but when Lt. Surge was about to give a cigar to Meowth Ash took it and threw it away. "Why did you do that, boss?"

"Because you're a battler, I can't allow you to ruin your lungs." He explained calmly as he continued to gaze out over the hill that they were sitting on.

"But you tried it!"

"I'm not the one that's doing the hard work in battle, is it?" The trainer smirked, causing the other humans and rodent to snicker at the cat's misfortune.

"Guys." Paul's voice made everyone look up and see a distressed breeder come running towards them with a nervous look on his face, it looked like he was about to take a dump in his pants.

"Lt. Surge! Paul! Ash!" He called in a half shout tone as he got closer to them. "You have been spotted by the girls! They're coming this way to ask why you're not working... you need to leave, now!"

Surge and Paul exchanged glances, but the calm on Ash's face was still intact as he looked the breeder straight into his eyes, his eyes showing their normal and deadly glare under his hat.

"I'm not going anywhere." He stated as he leaned back even more in the grass. "This is my vacation, and I will enjoy it as much as I can... even thought it isn't easy in a place like this..."

Brock ignored Ash and looked at them pleadingly. "Please! If not, they're going to take it all out on me!"

"So what?" Ash yawned along with Pikachu and Meowth. "Isn't that your duty? You're getting married, so you better get used to it."

Before Brock had time to ask him what he meant by that, he heard a shout from the girls and saw them approach with big frowns on their faces... When Surge saw that one of them was Sabrina he quickly got up.

In front of them stood three girls, the gym leader Sabrina, a girl with pink hair and a pink dress and a girl with purple hair and brown eyes with a baseball cap that had yellow and black stripes on it.

The trainer remembered the two girls as: Casey, the extremely irritating Electabuzz-fan, and Marilyn, the one that had a weird fetish for cute pokemon.

"Hello there, girls." Paul smirked a bit as he also stood up, trying to find an excuse. "We were about to..."

"Spare your excuses." Sabrina spoke up as she looked at him. "I can read your thoughts."

"Of course she can..." The raven haired boy mumbled, Brock groaned as he saw the girl turn their gazes towards the trainer.

"Excuse me, but who are you and why aren't you working?" Casey asked curiously as she tried to get a look at him, which wasn't easy since he had a hat that covered his face and he was lying down in the high grass.

"Cutieee!" The group jumped slightly as Marilyn rushed towards the poor rodent that was placed on the trainer's stomach and squeezed it half to death. "So C.U.T.E!"

"Pikachu..." Its trainer whispered, seconds later several volts were coursing through the irritating girl's body as she fell down towards the ground and twitched in shock.

"What did you do that for!" Casey got over the shock and glared at the man that was lying down in the grass. "She could have been killed!"

"If I wanted to kill her, she would have been dead by now and you wouldn't be alive either." The man stated as he made to stand up. "And that's a fact."

Casey shivered at the tone in the man's voice, it was so dark and yet she had some mysterious attraction to it, she was really curious to find out who the voice belonged to.

"It's time for you to get to work." Sabrina shot them a mysterious smile as she looked down at them, which was really strange since all the males were taller than her. "You have rested enough."

"Why do they need to get to work, weirdo!" Meowth just couldn't keep his mouth shut as he faced the psychic with a brave look and ignored the gasps he got from the two girls when they heard him talk. "Aren't you going to move that fat ass of yours!"

Everybody expected to see Sabrina's eye twitch, or at least frown, but she just stood there with her calm and mysterious smile and looked at the cat.

"How does it feel to be left out, Meowth? Not to belong to anyone?" She smirked evilly towards the angry cat. "How long do you have left with this person? Are you going to be traded away to one of your new master's... conquers?"

"That's enough." The harsh tone of the unknown man made Casey and Marilyn shiver, but then they gasped and blushed at the same time when they saw the handsome face that the man had, they were about to say something until...

"It's nice to see you here... mercenary..." Sabrina tasted the word. "Doesn't suit you... I think I have another one for you."

"I don't want to know your suggestions, witch." The man seemed to grow angry. "Get out of my head, or I'll make you..."

"I would like to see you try... aura-user..." The smirk on Sabrina's face grew as her eyes started to glow red.

The crowed backed away, frightened as they saw Sabrina was going to use a psychic attack. But the fear turned to panic when they saw that the man's eyes started to glow a light shade of blue as he glared at the psychic master, challenging her.

"This will get interesting..." Paul whispered to Surge, the gym leader looked at him with confusion in his eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

"Since the beginning of times, Aura Guardians, known as aura-users, and psychics, known by some as witches, have always battled each other... most of the times in the middle ages, it was an Aura Guardian that brought a psychic human to be burned on a stake, and it was usually the Aura Guardians that were the victims of the psychics rituals..." Paul halted himself as he saw Ash's hands glow blue and Sabrina started to hover in the air. "But I don't think he will have much of a chance, Sabrina has trained her power her whole life while he has only used it for a few years... I wonder how will it turn out..."

Brock listened to Paul's explanation and couldn't take it anymore, he walked out from his hiding spot and placed himself bravely in between the two combatants.

"Enough!" He cried out and spread out his arms. "This is a wedding! Not a battle ground!"

"Move..." Ash growled as the blue light in his hand seemed to shape itself into a ball. "It's time to finish this..."

"I admire your bravery, aura-user." Sabrina spoke said she floated a little higher into the air. "But this is a battle that you cannot win, surrender."

"I said: QIUT IT!" Brock roared with all his might, causing Ash and Sabrina to lose their focus causing her to fall towards the ground and the blue light to disappear from Ash's hand. "This is a wedding! Not a battleground! Calm down, or I will kick both of your asses!"

The people there looked at the breeder with disbelief. Then the spectators bravely walked up to the standoff and placed themselves behind their respective sides, Lt. Surge and Paul behind Ash, and the rest of them behind Sabrina.

The rodent and cat ran up towards their master and quickly stood by his side, ready to fight whoever dared threaten their master, psychic or not.

"He's right, aura-user." Sabrina nodded as she turned around and was about to walk away. "We're not here to fight."

"I agree, witch." The aura-user nodded. "We will settle this, but not today."

She didn't respond, she only walked away with her back turned to him, soon followed by the other girls.

The breeder sighed in relief, then he got an angry look and walked up towards the trainer and his pokemon.

"What the hell was that!" He roared as his face were only a few millimeters from Ash's. "Do you realize what you've done!"

"Yes, I was about to battle a witch." Ash stated as a matter of fact as he backed away a bit from the breeder. "And I've no intention of kissing you, so will you please not come so close to me?"

Brock blushed slightly at that, but then he regained his composure and glared a bit at the trainer. "You don't realize the problem? All the girls will hear all hear about this, and they will take it all out on me!"

"Not my problem." Ash only yawned as he turned and walked away in the opposite direction. "I need to get something to eat."

"But, the house is in the other direction!" Ash's statement had confused Brock so much that he had forgotten his fury.

"Home cooked food doesn't taste, unless you hunt it yourself..." The insane smirk on Ash's and his pokemons' faces made Brock tremble a bit, but Lt. Surge seemed to think over what he heard and nodded in agreement.

* * *

"Holly! You won't believe what happened!" The tone in Marilyn's voice, Holly's longtime friend, caused her to look up in confusion as she saw two people come running towards her followed by a third person who was walking at a more sedate pace.

"What happen, M?" Holly asked in confusion as she saw the frightened, with a hint of a blush, expression that she had.

"We saw that those Paul- and Surge-guys were not work, so we were about to ask them what they were doing... but there was also another man with them!" Marilyn stated with a dumbfound expression. "It seemed like he was a guest for the wedding, because he seemed to know Brock and the other! But then he got into a fight with Sabrina and..."

Holly gasped, she could only hope that the gym leader didn't kill the man, but she looked around and figured out that the reactions would be totally different if that had happened... so she looked at the girl and waited for her to take a deep breath, but Casey got in before she could say anything.

"It was so cool!" She exclaimed with stars in her eyes. "It was the first time I saw an Aura Guardian!"

"Aura Guardian!" Holly shrieked. "That's impossible! That's only a myth!"

"No, they are real... but there are very few..." Came Sabrina's mysterious voice. "And he wasn't an Aura Guardian, he could have chose that path if he wanted to... but he didn't, he's just an aura-user."

"But... what happened?" Holly wanted to know more, where was Lt. Sure and Paul? What happened to that man?

"Brock came running in and interrupted them as they were about to attack each other!" Casey stated, her eyes filled with awe. "He seemed to know the man pretty well... who was he, do you know him, Sabrina?"

"Yes." She only said that word, the group waited a little more before she sighed. "He doesn't want people to know who he is and I won't say who he is... yet."

"You just want him for yourself!" Casey's outburst shocked everyone as she started to blush a deep shade of red and began to stutter. "I... I mean... Wh... why can't y... you tell u.. us who h... he is?"

"I already told you." Sabrina left them with that and seemed to be floating as she left, but that was impossible... right?

* * *

"What's bothering you, boss?" Meowth asked in confusion as they were sneaking around the forest, looking for prey. "You're upset that Old-Twerp interrupted your battle?"

"No." Ash shook his head as he pushed away some bushes, he cursed his luck as he saw the Pidgey get startled and fly away. "I just didn't like how she was poking around in my mind."

"Don't worry, boss." Meowth assured him with a smile. "If she spills anything, we will get her."

"Pika!" The little rodent nodded, then it face-palmed as he saw another Pidgey fly away.

"Thanks, guys..." Ash quickly stopped in the middle of his sentence as he saw another Pidgey, it seemed to not have noticed them and was happily looking for Caterpie on the ground...

Ash motioned for them to be quiet as they slowly moved closer towards the oblivious Pidgey. They were only a few meters from it, and Ash was just about to order Pikachu to use Thunderbolt and Meowth to use Slash, when they heard a loud shout that caused the Pidgey to shriek and fly away in surprise.

"Shit/Chu!" Was the collective sound that came from the human, cat and mouse as their lunch just flew away.

They quickly turned their death glares to the end of the forest and walked towards source of the noise, ready to beat the heck out of whomever it was that caused them to lose their lunch.

"Crybaby!" Came the shout from what sounded like a kid.

"What are you gonna do, go and cry to your mummy?" Such an annoying voice, Ash could only hope that he didn't sound like that when he was younger... and who is this idiot anyway?

"Stop it!" That voice seemed to belong to a much younger child, probably one who had only just recently begun to speak..

The gang walked out of the forest and into a…. Playground!

"What the h..." Ash's words were once again halted by another scream. "Hey! Shut up! I'm trying to think here, you little punks!"

"Easy, boss." Meowth sent him a weak smile. "First off: They are only kids, second: They can't hear you."

The trainer growled and walked towards the source of his annoyance.

Meowth was right it was only kids, but that didn't stop the irritated trainer.

What did stop the trainer was when he saw a little kid, around two years old, with blue hair, getting picked on by two children around the age of five. He didn't recognize the two older kids... but the young one seemed…. familiar somehow...

"Give it to us!"

"What do you mean?" The little child seemed terrified as he was on the ground and was looking up at the two, big boys.

"You know what, give us the pokeball!"

"NO!" The little boy shouted. "It's my mother's pokemon!"

"You're too young to take care of pokemon!" One of the boys with white hair spoke up with a mean look. "Give it to us!"

"You're too young to take care of a pokemon, too!" The blue haired boy gripped the ball tightly as he tried to hide it from view.

"Give it to us!" It seemed like it was the only line those two bullies could say as they tried to grab the pokeball from the little child.

"No!" He cried out frightened, and could feel the tears build up inside his eyes.

"Do you know how it feels to be slowly electrocuted to death? Or how it feels to get your bowels ripped out of you, using only one claw?" The calm yet threatening voice coming from behind them made actually made the bullies wet their pants. "Let me explain it to you then: First, it feels like your muscles are slowly becoming stiff, then you're going to feel a burning sensation that will deepen, slowly… and you'll be praying to Arceus for it to go away... every second will feel like hours and you will wish that you were never born in the first place... Now, getting slashed up is..."

Ash stopped his little 'speech' as he saw the two boys run away, crying and their pants thoroughly souled, from him and the little kid looked at him with big, yet grateful, eyes.

The trainer got down to his level and looked him in the eye. "What's your name, kid?"

"S..." The little boy tried to speak, he didn't quite understand what the man was talking about just now... but it didn't sound nice. "S- Scott."

"Okay, Scott." The trainer offered him a hand up, which the boy took with no hesitation. "Where is your mother?"

And, of course, as soon as he said it, there was a sound that came from a woman that Ash would guess to be around 17 years old.

"Scott!"

Ash slowly walked away from the scene as he saw the all too familiar blunette come running towards her son.

"Scott! Buneary came as quickly as she good." The beautiful, young, woman knelt down towards her son and took him into a comforting embrace. "I'm so sorry!"

The little brown rabbit with wool 'pants' had a worried look on its face as it watched her mistress's child. It had been her task to watch after the boy, but she didn't dare to attack the two other boys since she didn't know what would happen if she did actually attack them...

"And where were you?" Dawn Berlitz's eyes were ablaze with fire as she looked at the assistant and the coordinator. "Weren't you supposed to be looking after him!"

Kenny and Conway only stuttered as they looked down towards the ground, trying to hide their red and embarrassed faces.

"Mommy." The little boy tugged on his mother's skirt to get her attention. "No need to worry, that man helped me!"

"Who?" Dawn frowned at her child's words, but the child only pointed towards the direction that out hero was trying to sneak away in.

"Hey!" Ash stopped dead in his tracks and closed his eyes, so much for helping people...

He turned around slowly, then a brown blur passed him and knocked down the poor rodent that was placed on his shoulder, causing the cat to laugh.

"Pikachu! Pika!" The poor rodent cried for help as it tried to fend off the love-sick Buneary. "Pikachu!"

"I get what you mean, Meowth." Ash whispered to his cat pokemon, the others were too far away to hear them. "It IS fun to watch things like this."

"I told you, boss." The cat responded him with a smirk as he also had his voice down a bit. "You think she recognizes you?"

Ash looked discreetly towards the blunette that was moving towards him, she didn't seem to recognize him... for now at least.

"I don't think so, so keep your mouth shut." Ash whispered to his scratch-pokemon.

Meowth nodded and placed himself on four legs as he tried to act and look like the former Meowth that he was a long time ago.

"I'm SO sorry!" The woman with blue hair quickly apologized as she bent down to pick up her love-struck Buneary of which she had some problems doing so as the Buneary seemed to be holding onto Pikachu with a death grip. "But I don't know what's wrong with her, she hasn't acted this way since..."

"There's no problem, miss." Ash spoke in a low and deep voice, not wanting her to recognize him. "How's the kid doing?"

Dawn smiled sweetly towards the man, whose face was hidden by his hat, she was confused to feel some kind of attraction towards him. "He's okay, isn't that right, Scott?"

"Yupp!" The little child laughed as he walked hesitatingly towards the little rodent, who was still on the ground. "Pet?"

Pikachu looked at its master with pleading eyes, but it then frowned as it could see the smirk under the man's hat as he nodded. The rodent sighed and tried to coo and pretended to enjoy the boy's hit…err petting.

"We need to go." Ash turned his back on them and were followed by the cat and mouse, that had broken free from the child's grip, and were heading towards the forest again.

"Wait!" Dawn didn't know why she burst out like that, she actually felt rather embarrassed by it when the man turned towards her and covered his face with the brim of his brown hat. "Umm... why don't you join us for lunch?"

Conway and Kenny looked at their crush with looks of disbelief, since when had she opened to other people? Especially people she didn't know…

"I don't think so..." The man was halted in his words as the little kid clung to his legs and looked at him with big eyes.

"Pwease!" The child didn't seem able to fully speak yet. "Can you come wif us?"

Ash tried to avoid the child's tearful and pleading gaze, but he couldn't just shake him off his legs and walk away from there... he sighed, why were the heavens against him today?

"Fine, but I won't stay long."

"Yaaaayy!" Scott cheered and as he tried and pull the man towards his mother, he wasn't so successful at that. "I want pancakes!"

"Of course, sweetie!" The single-mom knelt down and lifted the child up. She then looked at the man with a rather embarrassed look. "I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself.... I'm Dawn, and this is Scott."

"Pleasure." The man only nodded and the cat did a bad, imitated, Meowth-sound.

"And this is Conway and Kenny." She did a careless gesture towards the two males that stood a little ways aside and looked slight slightly fearfully at the man.

"So?" With that word the man walked pass them, at the same time Pikachu sneaked down into his large black backpack to hide itself from the mating-crazed rabbit.

The cat climbed onto its master's shoulder and whispered something that only Ash could hear.

"Are you sure about this, boss?" He glanced towards the other 4 humans. "This might be a bad idea."

"It is a bad idea." Ash only nodded as he slowed down so the group could come a little closer. "But do you have a better idea?"

"No..." The cat seemed to think. "But I don't want to be hugged to death by that little kid over there."

"Don't worry." Ash assured him with a hidden smirk. "I'm sure that he only does that with cute pokemon."

Meowth growled slightly as he exposed his claws in front of Ash's face, and Ash's eyes started to glow a weak shade of blue.

"If you feel lucky, then do it..." Ash growled.

But neither of the managed to do something before Ash could feel someone hug his legs... again. He looked down and saw that little kid with a happy look on his face.

"Mommy toll me that if I toil you my name that you wiw then tell usss yaw name!" He looked so excited that he had a problem to stand still. "What's youj name? My name is Scott!"

"I know..." Ash sweat-dropped at the boy's antics. "Tell you mother that it isn't necessary to know my name. She won't have any use of it since I'm not planning to stay here for any longer."

He could feel the little boy nod and run back to his mother to tell her the news.

Ash continued to walk a bit, then he spoke again, more to himself than to Meowth.

"I never thought that Dawn would grow to become one, hot, b…"

He was interrupted by a smack to the back of his head by the cat as it glared at him.

"Easy there, 'Old-Twerp'." He frowned. "We're only here to attend at a wedding, not for any more 'conquests'."

"Yeah, yeah." Ash couldn't continue to speak since their companions had walked up to them and started to ask them annoying questions.

"But we need to know your name!" Kenny stated as he ran up in front of Ash and started to walk backwards to face him. "We need to know your name since we need some way to call you!... or are you an outlaw?"

"Call me Satoshi... and do you have a death wish?" Ash asked with a calm voice, but it made Kenny to back away several meters and look at the dark man with a frightened expression.

"Satoshi!" Dawn scolded."Don't talk like that in front of a child! If you're going to use that kind of language you better go!"

"Deal." Ash did a U-turn and walked back towards the forest. "I wish I could say that it was nice meeting you, but then I would be lying..."

"At least we don't hide who we are!" Conway decided that it was his turn to show his 'manliness', but it failed of course. "What?"

Dawn just sighed, that man clearly was a jerk... but she still couldn't shake off the feeling that she had seen him somewhere, or why she felt such a strange attraction towards him...

She shrugged, maybe it was because he didn't drool when he was around her... unlike some other people, she glared at her two older companions...

**End of chapter 9**

* * *

**What did you think about my parable with the witch-fires and the Aura Guardians vs Psychics in the middle ages? Looks like it's still some tense feelings between them...**

**I don't exactly know why I did like this chapter so much, but I just did... maybe it was because I got some space to show the 'real' Ash in it?**

**Oh, well, the only thing left to say is this:**

**It's better to review later than never and I'll be seeing you in the next chapter!**

**R&R!  
**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello there!**

**I don't have anything else to say than this, actually: Here's chapter 10!**

**Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review at the end of it (you're actually getting more and more bad on doing that :P)!**

**R&R!  
**

* * *

"And then he started to act like THE biggest jerk I've ever seen!"

Brock groaned as he passed one of the breakfast tables, Ash just couldn't stop insulting people, could he? The few days he had been staying here, he had done nothing but seduce a few girls and insult the others in his path... and how is it that he is somehow able to keep himself away from their death-grip and get out of working?

Well, Brock sighed, at least they don't know who he really is...at least for now... they only think that he's some strange friend of Brocks that he's too ashamed to really introduce, and they are right... in a way.

He walked out from his house, the sun was shining brightly in the sky, the breeder continued towards the hill where Ash had set up camp.

Brock slowly walked up to the tent on top of the hill, and was just about to look inside when...

"You won't find anyone in there."

The breeder jumped slightly at the sudden call, he turned around and saw Ash sitting there in his usual dark clothes and was... meditating?

Brock walked up to Ash, he had his eyes closed and seemed really relaxed, he looked on with confusion and frowned a bit when he felt some kind of calm aura that was radiating off the trainer.

"Ash...?"

"No, I'm Barry..." The voice was filled with such sarcasm that even Brock couldn't help but notice it.

"Ha...ha..." Brock had stopped acting so nervously around Ash, he knew that the trainer only made empty threats... that's what he thought anyway. "Seriously, when are you going to introduce yourself to the other guests?"

"Never."

"Okay..." Brock grew more frustrated, Ash only gave the simplest answers he could find... "You need to do something, the wedding is in four days and you haven't even turned up at any of the rehearsals!"

"Neither have you." Ash opened his eyes for the first time and looked at the embarrassed breeder with a knowing smirk. "Don't you think I know what's going on down there? You avoid the rehearsals and is only here because you needed to find some excuse to get out of it, face it, you're scared."

"I'm not scared!" Brock shouted, scaring away a few Pidgeys. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Face it, Old-Twerp." Meowth appeared from inside the tent with Pikachu behind him. "Me and Pikachu here have infiltrated the wedding... and YOU are avoiding everything!" The smirk grew bigger on the scratch-cat's face. "You only greet the guests and then you disappear, you're nowhere to be seen... why? Because you're here and are trying in vain to convince the boss to come to the wedding... it's a lost cause, Old-Twerp."

"I... I..." Brock didn't know what to say, he knew that they were wrong... but were they really that far from the truth? "You're wrong!"

"Sure/Pi." The three of them said at the same time as their smirks grew bigger and bigger with each passing second. "But I must admit, Brock, you have invited some hot girls and..."

"Speaking of which..." Brock started to glare at the trainer that was still seated. "What was that thing about Dawn and her kid? Couldn't you just avoid insulting them?"

"Is he speaking about the Third-Twerpette and Mini-Twerp?" Meowth asked with a frown. "For the record, they insulted us and abused Pikachu here."

"Pika." The rodent nodded and a little shiver coursed down its little spine. "Pikachu, Pi pi-pi chu!"

"I don't think I should translate that." Ash yawned. "But I think it's time for you to go." He then started to look out at a specific side of the hill.

"Why are you always looking in that direction, Ash?" Brock asked with a frown.

"No reason..."

Brock walked up to Ash and looked in the direction that the trainer was staring at, he then got an 'Oh...'-look when he saw that it was facing towards the parking lot and a certain wreck.

"Is that really necessary?" Brock frowned a bit. "Isn't that a little too much? You can't go around and ruin people's things just because you feel like it!"

"Well, sorry that we stood up for your girl when you didn't have the balls to do so!" Came Meowth with his usual smirk.

"What do you mean by that?" Brock groaned, when were the insults ever going to end?

"I'm talking about how you only stood there when Loser-Twerp tried to grab Bird-Twerpette's..."

"That's enough!" Brock cried out and walked away, frustrated. "If you want to stay here and feel sorry for yourself, fine! Just don't take it out on everyone else!"

They looked at the back of the retreating breeder for a while... then, after twenty seconds of silence, Ash broke the silence.

"Boo... hoo..." The voice was so bored that even a Slowpoke would frown at it. "What do you think, guys?"

"I don't know, boss." The cat seemed to think. "Would it hurt to go down there and check it out?"

"I'm still waiting for the 'Elite's that's surely going to be here'..." Ash frowned as he sent a death-glare towards the embarrassed cat. "So... tell me the truth, how many elites are here?"

"Well..."

"REAL elites, not coordinators or something else..."

Meowth quickly shut his mouth and paused to think. How many were there?

"Five gym leaders, one Frontier Brain and... one Elite Four..." He sighed. "Sorry, boss, but I think that's all that's going to turn up..."

"And I've beaten them all..." Ash growled as he got up. "Come on, let's get something to eat in this shit-hole."

* * *

"Stupid Ash... doesn't know what he's talking about... stupid talking cat..." Brock mumbled as he walked down towards the house with his hands in his pockets, cursing everything around him like a certain trainer would've done. "Don't know what he's talking about... jealous... stupid Croagunk..."

"Brock!" The sound of his fiancés voice made him to snap out of his thought and look towards the source of the sound and gulp.

"_They've heard about Ash... I'm going to die..._" Was the only thought that ran through his head as he saw that every girl attending the wedding stood there and were looking at him with unreadable expressions…

"Brock, we're going to look for clothes and dresses for the wedding... would you mind taking over the work and make sure that everyone is doing everything they should?" Holly asked with a smile as she walked up and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Really? That's nice of you! Bye!"

"W... what? Wait! I...!" It was no use, Brock couldn't figure out how they could all disappear so fast... "Guess I need to do my duty..."

The breeder walked towards the gym with a brave look, he gazed out towards the workers that worked their hearts out just to try and appease the girls... Brock couldn't help but feel pride towards his fiancé who managed to properly control such a big group of people.

He could see them all there. Gary, Max, Paul, Tracey, Flint, Forrest and his brothers, Lucian, Kenny, Barry, Nando, Conway, Rudy, Norman, Lt. Surge and... wait a minute... where's Drew and Harley?

Brock smacked himself on the head, he had forgotten that Harley followed the girls to the dress-store for a reason that Brock didn't want to know...

But Drew... where was he...

Brock continued to gaze around the gym, then he saw a big mass sitting in a chair and looking out towards the gym with a satisfied smirk.

The breeder sighed and walked up towards the greenette, he had a firm look on his face and wouldn't back down, no matter how big his adversary was...

"Drew..." Brock started to hesitate immediately as he saw the abomination turn towards him with his greasy hair and his sweaty face. "Um... shouldn't you be... working?"

"I AM working." The former coordinator stated as he made a gesture towards the work-scene. "I'm the one who makes sure that nobody injures themselves as they work!"

"Okay..." Brock hesitated once more and backed away, he then turned himself towards the group and whistled to get their attention.

"Excuse me!" He called out, the group of men turned to him with questioning looks. "I just want to say that the girls are out on a shopping-spree so it's my job to make-"

"Alright!" Came the voice of an irritating blond. "Freedom is ours!"

"Now, calm down, Barry." Brock tried and reason with the mob... but he could hear several of them murmur that 'the idiot is right' and look towards the breeder with disbelief in their looks. "We need to keep working so that the girls can see that we-"

"We've worked long enough!" Lt. Surge stood up and walked towards Brock. "The Mankey is right, it's time for our freedom from slavery and dictatorship! It's time for a rebellion!"

Even if Lt. Surge's words were blown out of proportion, the mob seemed to agree with him and started to chant and shout, it seemed like they could go on forever... at least until the girls came home...

"Alright!" Brock had enough after that they had shouted several rather obscene words about the girls….. and about him as well. "Fine! We will take a short break, but then I want you to..." He stopped talking as he saw that the gym was empty... how could everyone so fast even after such a long period of manual labour?

The breeder sighed and walked out, he looked around and saw several of the males just lying in the grass outside the gym, relaxing, some of them had gone through the kitchen fridge and drank some beer while the rest just stood around, enjoying the fresh air.

"I'm telling you!" Came a rather high pitched voice. "It's the fastest there is! It's nearly indestructible and..."

"Shut up, punk!" Lt. Surge roared at the former Sinnoh champion. "We don't give a shit about your little toy!"

"I'll show you!" Barry exclaimed at the uninterested mob as he ran towards the parking lot. "I'll bring it to you and I'll show you that it isn't a toy!"

"Is he always this… crazy?" A sixteen year old asked a researcher with brown hair.

"I don't know, Max..." Gary seemed to think. "I don't think he is... I think he just had a rough childhood..."

"I don't think his childhood ever ended..." Brock muttered as he placed himself next to them and joined the conversation. "How are you, Max?"

"Fine, thanks." The gym leader's apprentice smiled. "Still a little shocked that you're getting married, but I'm sure that I'm not the only one!"

"Very funny..." Brock frowned as he glared at the laughing Gary.

"So... did you ever find... you know." Max seemed to hesitate as he asked this.

"Who are you talking about?" Brock gulped, he really didn't want to lie to the young boy.

"I'm talking about-"

The voice of the bespectacled boy was halted by a high and rather girlish scream that made several males look around for a poor little girl in need of help... but they frowned when they didn't find any damsel in distress, but were rather disturbed when they saw a blond man come running towards them screaming in that rather girlish manner.

He stopped a few meters from the mob and continued to scream for a while, causing several spectators to clap their hands over their heads to try and muffle the screams.

"WHO DID IT!" The sound of the voice could probably break glass. "WHO ATE MY CAR!"

His statement caused several people to 1augh, who would eat a car?

"IT ISN'T FUNNY!" Barry cried out as tears of embarrassment and grief flowed down his cheeks. "I WILL FINE OUT WHO DID IT!"

The mob then heard a great roar that caused Barry to jump and release another scream as a silhouette of a dragon appeared in the sky.

The great dragon was dark blue and had a red underbelly. There was also some sort of gold cross on its snout, all in all the pokemon looked like a mix between a Sharpedo and a jet... and it scared the pants off most people on the scene.

The dragon landed right in front of Barry and everyone could see the man in dark brown clothes and a Stetson hat was seated on the great dragon... there was also a yellow rodent and cat perched behind him.

The man jumped down to the ground and landed in a crouch, he then looked up and looked at the males with pity. His gaze was then directed to the intimidated blond that backed away a bit.

"Garchomp..." The man ordered in a low voice.

The dragon smirked as he spit out some sort of round and wide rubber circle... it was black and resembled a... tyre?

The former champion screamed as he recognized his jeep's tyre.

"You... YOU ATE MY CAR!" The blond started to shriek at the dragon at that same high pitch, causing some of the other males to snicker. "I'M GOING TO FINE YOU AND MAKE YOU PAY WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT! WHO'S YOUR TRAINER!"

Everybody sweat-dropped at Barry's stupid question, some of them started to laugh out loud at the man's misfortune.

"That would be me..." The dark voice of the man caused Barry to halt in his outburst, but that didn't last long as he started to shout once again.

"OKAY MISTER! YOU'VE GOT TEN SECONDS TO PAY UP!" He looked at his pokétch and started to count. "ONE, TWO, TH-"

"Ten..." The man's voice caused Barry to halt once again, which was probably some sort of record by now.

"Okay! You asked for it!" Barry ran to the other side of an imaginary battlefield. "I challenge you to a battle!"

"Forget it..." The man growled and was about to walk away as he recalled his pokemon.

"Look at that, don't you recognize a coward when you see one?"

The man turned and faced the smirking Paul with a glare that would give you a taste of what hell would be like, but the Pyramid Master only continued to smirk.

"Afraid to lose to a Mankey? I get you, Paul." Lt. Surge saw what Paul was going at and joined in with his taunting smile.

"It will be as you wish..." The man growled once again and stood himself 20 meters opposite Barry. "Who will be the judge and what are the rules?"

"Who's that?" Max asked as he felt a very unpleasant chill go down his spine as he looked at the man with wide eyes. "Do you know him?... Gary?"

The researcher didn't answer, he was too busy looking at the soon-to-occur battle to even notice the young boy's questions.

Brock walked up to the middle of the field and held up his hands, and out of habit, said the next few lines.

"This is a three on three battle between Barry Jun from Twinleaf Town and Ash Ketchum from Pallet T..." He stopped mid-sentence as he realized his mistake.

The emotions were mixed... but they all said one thing:

"ASH?"

"Nice work, idiot." Ash growled silently so only Brock could hear. "Your wedding gift will now be experienced very painful..." Ash was about to walk towards the breeder with clenched fists... but Brock found his composure again and realized how he was about to save his body from a painful beating.

"No substitutions are allowed and the one who loses all his pokemon first loses the match! Questions? Begin!" He then ran away as fast as he could and hid behind Gary.

"Empoleon! I choose you!" The blond man cried out and summoned his large penguin that was a mix between metal and water elements.

Ash stopped mid stride, as he cursed Brock silently. If he punishes Brock now he would lose the battle... and he has never lost or walked away from a battle...

"Sceptile, fight to the end." He said in a low tone.

The red and white orb opened and revealed a large, green and powerful lizard that looked like it had seen its fair share of battles.

Ash looked at the crowd, he was slightly confused that none of them said anything... but they probably wanted proof that it really was him... and he would give them proof, but it wasn't the kind of proof that they would expected.

He directed his gaze towards the extremely nervous, blond, trainer that seemed to thinking as hard as he could... which wasn't a whole lot.

"Are you going to stand there all day?" The calm yet monotonous tone of the trainer surprised everyone, it couldn't possibly be Ash, the Ash that they knew would be as energetic as Barry was at this moment. "I don't have all the time in the world..."

Barry seemed to buy Ash's taunts, because he got a furious look over his childish face.

"I'm going to show you 'standing there all day'!" He didn't notice everyone's sweat-drops. "Empoleon! Use Drill Peck and finish this quick!"

The penguin let out a shriek as his bill started to spin around in such speed that the dust around him was sent flying. He charged towards the lizard at a really fast speed... but the lizard only stood there.

"Sceptile, use Dig." The calm tone of the trainers voice caused everyone's eyes to widen, couldn't he see that the attack was clearly coming towards him at such a speed tha-

The lizard dived into the ground as he dug at an even faster speed that Empoleon could manage, the penguin missed him by just a few centimeters.

"Watch out Empoleon!" Barry warned his pokemon. "He can come u-"

He trailed off when he heard his pokemon cry out in pain and get punched away by his opponent's pokemon who had just emerged from the ground.

"Empoleon!"

"Finish this..." Ash gazed out towards the battlefield and seemed to smirk. "Now."

Empoleon was about to get up from his crouching position, but suddenly a green and glowing leaf smashed into its back, causing it to cry out in a shrill cry that caused half the spectators to hold their ears...

There was no more movement of that pokemon.

"Empoleon is unable to battle!" Brock had come out from his hiding place and stood in the middle of the field. "Sceptile wins the match! Barry, send out your next pokemon!"

"Such a waste..." Ash shook his head as he saw Barry fumble in recalling his pokemon and take out a new one. "Why doesn't he understand that he has no chance?"

"Heracross! I need your help!" He threw the ball and summoned the bug pokemon that looked ever eager to battle.

"This is a battle between Sceptile and Heracross! Begin!"

"Megahorn! Now!" Barry cried out and his pokemon started charge towards its opponent with a white glowing horn. "And make it count!"

"Sceptile, just evade it... and continue to evade it, he's going to use that a lot since it's the only attack he has that's effective against you." Ash shook his head as he saw that he was right by the look on Barry's face.

Sceptile easily dodged the bug's attack, he even gave him a little slap with his tail as he jumped over him.

"Don't give in, Heracross!" Barry encouraged his pokemon. "Use Megahorn again and again!"

The same thing happened over and over again, the bug charged the lizard, the lizard dodged the attack and gave him another taunting slap with his tail... that happened about twenty times until Barry figured out that it wasn't working.

"Heracross!" He called to his pokemon. "Let them attack! Wait for it!"

"Is he really that stupid, Pikachu?" Ash asked with a frown as he saw the confident smirk Barry had.

"Chu." The rodent nodded from his shoulder, he then shook his head as he pitied the poor pokemon that served under that trainer.

"Sceptile, let's finish this with Quick Attack." Ash ordered his pokemon with a calm tone.

The lizard nodded and started to rush towards the bug-pokemon with an incredible speed, causing the spectators to look on in awe.

"Fire a Hyper Beam at him!" Barry yelled in a high voice with a confident smirk adorning his face.

The bug opened its mouth and released a powerful orange beam towards the target, it was closing in, but Sceptile didn't avoid the attack.

"Turn the Quick Attack into an Aerial Ace... and spin while you're doing it." The command was said almost in a whisper, but Sceptile heard his master.

The lizard jumped and twisted its green body so that the beam passed right beside him and flew just centimeters beside Ash's head before it disappeared into the sky.

Sceptile used his strong legs to propel himself very high into the air, and then he directed his path towards the bug pokemon that was just standing there, panting, from releasing the hyper beam.

The spectators could hear two sounds, one of it was when Sceptile broke the sound-barrier... and the second was when he crashed into his opponent and caused it shriek in pain, lots of pain.

"Heracross!" Barry did his traditional, dramatic, pose before he ran towards his pokemon and picked him up.

"Heracross is unable to battle! Sceptile wins the battle!" Brock declared, he had disappeared during the battle, but he now stood at the side of the field and lowered his left arm. "Barry, send out your next pokemon!"

"I... it's impossible..." Barry was dumbfounded as he recalled his pokemon. "I... I didn't even land one hit in two battles..."

"You know why?" The frown was clearly visible on Ash's face, even if he was wearing a hat. "When was the last time you trained your pokemon? Since you lost your undeserving title?"

Some of the spectators seemed confused by Ash's statement, but others seemed to get what he meant and nodded knowingly.

Barry thought about it for a moment, he had actually slacked off a little with his training since he became the champion (in other words: He didn't train at all)... so maybe that's why he couldn't land one hit... his pokemon were out of practice!

But then a smirk was visible on the human-mankey, he took out another pokeball and threw it into the air. The ball revealed a large majestic bird that soared into the air before coming to hover in front of its trainer.

"Looks like he got it." Ash whispered discretely to his pokemon.

"Got what, boss?" The cat asked puzzled and slightly annoyed, he was slightly annoyed at Sceptile for defeating his opponents so easily since Meowth was next in line for battle.

"He understood that the pokemon that he trained weren't strong enough... so I'm guessing that this one has been in some kind of day-care center." Ash stated knowingly as the smirk grew on his face. "This might actually get interesting."

"This is a battle between Sceptile and Staraptor!" Brock cried out as he had once again moved onto the middle of the field. "Begin!"

* * *

"Sis, I'm tired!" Came a whining voice from a person that we all know too well. "Why do I need to carry everything?"

"Because you're a guy." Holly stated simply with a smile as she carried a light plastic bag in her right hand. "You're are stronger than us girls and you need to show it!"

Harley didn't seem to accept that statement for some reason... but he continued to carry the bags while trying to keep his whining to a minimum.

"So, Holly." A beautiful brunette walked up beside her best friend and smiled a smile that would put Mew's cuteness to shame. "You still haven't told us who Brock's Best Man is."

"I know..." Holly hesitated as she looked around nervously, the rest of the girls seemed to be interested in the matter as well and listened intently to the pair, all except for Sabrina who just smirked. "But... why do you really need to know?"

"Because..." May sighed as she rolled her eyes. "According to the wedding-plans, I'm going to walk towards the altar with my arm around his just before you and Brock... and then after the wedding we are to start dancing after you guys… so isn't it more than reasonable to let me know who Brock's Best Man is?"

"I remember..." Holly nodded, then she got a teasing smile on her face. "And you know what they say: The two who does that are the next couple to get married!"

"Holly!" May playfully hit her on the arm as she felt her face grow red. "I'm serious, won't you please tell me who I'm going to walk with?"

"I'm not sure if he's even going to be here..." Holly sighed as she got a slightly depressed look. "I think Brock said that he was really busy or something like that..."

"But, what happens if he doesn't come then?" May asked puzzled with a slight frown, she still didn't know who would be her 'date' at the wedding.

"Well..." Holly seemed to think, hard. "I'm not entirely sure... but I think Brock's second choice is either Gary Oak or Forrest..."

May made a gagging-noise, while the others all laughed.

"Gary!" She laughed. "I'll take anyone, except Gary Oak!"

"It's good that you should say that..." The girls jumped slightly as the mysterious Sabrina walked passed them. "It seems like things are getting interesting at the house..."

She then somehow disappeared from their midst, she was just gone...

After the girls had gotten over the shock, they heard some cries and explosions at the house.

Holly got a terrified look on her face, she knew that this would happen if all the girls left... they have started fighting with each other!

She, and the rest of the girls, rushed towards the house, just in time to see a giant bird dive towards a powerful-looking green lizard.

"Aerial Ace!" The blond trainer screamed at his pokemon.

"Counter it with Leaf Blade." Came the calm and almost whispering tone in response.

The Staraptor dived towards Sceptile as it began to get surrounded by a white light, the light grew brighter the closer it came towards the lizard.

Sceptile's leaf on his right arm began to glow bright green as he smirked and slashed at the incoming bird.

The attacks were evenly matched, they struggled for a moment but everyone could see that Sceptile was the stronger one despite the type-disadvantage.

"Let's end this."

Sceptile's leaf on his left arm began to glow that same green color as he smashed it into the bird that was trying to push him back.

Staraptor cried in pain as he felt the leaf cut through his torso, he did as he was trained and broke the deadlock to fly off to a safe distance and await his master's orders.

"That's good!" Barry encouraged his pokemon, even thought he knew that it would end soon. "Let's blow them back with Whirlwind!"

The bird nodded and gained a little more altitude, then it started to flap its great wings causing a great wind which almost blew away the spectators (who still hadn't noticed the approaching group of females).

"Stand your ground!" Ash had raised his voice for the first time since it was hard to talk through the sound that the wind made... needless to say that most females in the vicinity were almost instantly attracted to the said deep voice as their hearts melted by the sound of it...

Sceptile braced himself as the winds hit him, over and over again, he had recently been hit by an Aerial Ace and a Wing Attack, so he was slightly fatigued.

Pikachu and Meowth had to cling to their master's legs as they almost got blown away by the wind. Ash himself had to hold onto his hat as the winds very nearly blew it off.

"It's time to end this, kid." Ash told his opponent on the other side of the field. "We get one final attack each."

"I agree... dude!" The spectators once again sweat-dropped at Barry's failure at a comeback. "Let's finish this!"

"Ladies first..." The smirk on Ash's grew bigger as he saw the vein throbbing on Barry's face.

"I'll show you!" He screamed and gestured towards his bird-pokemon. "Staraptor! Use Brave Bird! Full power! Make it count! Ta-"

"Sceptile, silence them with one last Giga Impact." Ash almost yawned, he had grown tired of Barry's childish antics for a long time ago. "Don't hold back on him anymore, it's time to finish this."

"'Hold back'!" Barry shrieked in surprise and shock. "What do you mean by that!"

The only visible emotion on the man's face was a big, taunting smirk that was directed towards the childish trainer.

Staraptor soared up into the air as the bird was surrounded by a blue aura. It then retracted its wings and began to dive towards its opponent at a high speed.

The lizard grunted slightly as he took off and started running. As he ran, a purple sphere of pure energy began to cover its whole body. He started running even faster towards the incoming bird and leapt to met it mid way.

"Prepare for impact..." Ash said softly so only his pokemon could hear him.

There was a big explosion and a blinding light that caused everyone close their eyes and ears. The smoke around the battlefield mixed with sand and stone caused a giant dust cloud such that the spectators couldn't even see the trainers on the edge of the battlefield.

Slowly, the smoke cleared enough to see the two trainers. One of them was really relaxed, almost bored, but the other one looked like he was about to faint out of anxiety.

The dust cloud cleared and allowed the spectators and trainers to see the aftermath of the explosion.

They could see a green lizard in a kneeling position, panting heavily... Ash raised his eyebrow, slightly impressed, as he saw the bird was still airborne.

"That's awesome, Staraptor!" Barry cheered in his high voice. "Now, let's use..."

His voice died as he saw his pokemon faint and fall towards the ground and land with a dull 'thud'.

Ash felt someone tug his pants and turned around. What he saw was Meowth standing there with a big smirk on his face as he held out his hat which had fallen off in the explosion.

"What's so funny?"

"Look up, boss." The smirk on the cat grew even wider as he saw his boss's expression.

"Who... is... that...?" May, Holly, Zoey and several other girls were left breathless as they took in the sight of the handsome trainer.

"That's the rude/Aura Guardian/man who saved us from the bikers!" Came several voices all at once.

"Yes." Sabrina appeared out of the blue again and looked towards the man with a mysterious smile. "That's also Brock's Best Man."

All the girls shot May death-glares, as though it was her fault that they didn't get paired up with the handsome man in front of them.

"Staraptor is unable to battle!" Brock decided to break the uncomfortable silence and help out a little. "Sceptile wins the match! Barry is out of usable pokemon! Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town wins the battle!"

He could hear several face-palms as a result of the last sentence, two were from pokemon and the other one was from the man with his Stetson hat back on his head.

"ASH!" Not only the did girls screamed it, most of the males just remembered that this was Ash in front of them, that they had forgotten it during the battle...

There was a minute of silence in which the tension just grew...

Then, Ash sighed, he tipped his hat towards the group of girls and walked away.

"Hold it right there!" Ash felt someone grab him by the arm, that person shouldn't have done that...

The person in question suddenly felt himself lifted up into the air and throw onto the floor, back first.

"Ouch!" The blond trainer cried out. "Don't try getting away! I'm going to make you pay with everything you've got!"

"I would like to see you try... shit-head." Ash whispered to him, but some of the spectators also heard it.

The raven haired trainer then picked up the pace and walked in a direction of his camp which only Brock knew about... the rodent and cat followed him closely, not wanting to be left alone with the confused mob.

There were mixed feelings and thoughts... but the one thing everyone had on their mind was: "_What the hell just happened!_"

**End of chapter 10**

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* * *

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**Did I bash some characters too much?**

**Anyway, I'll try and clear some things up in the coming chapter!**

**It's better to review later than never and I'll be seeing you in the next chapter!**

**R&R!  
**


	11. Chapter 11

**I'm really sorry that it took so long! But I've been really busy with different tests and exams before the summer-spring... I hope you understand.**

**But why complain when the chapter is here now? :) I'm going to stop talking now so you can read it!**

**Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review at the end of it!**

**R&R!  
**

* * *

Brock didn't dare to look behind himself as he ran, he only hoped that none of the guests followed him.

When did he decide to run from the scene? Right after Ash had left, the others had looked at him with expressions that he couldn't read, but they were certainly hostile.

He came to the edge of the forest and sat down, he cursed his mouth as he remembered that he practically announced Ash's return to everybody... well, not exactly everybody, Drew had been too lazy to watch the battle so he simply had walked inside the house just before Ash turned up to get some 'rest'.

"Nice work." His head snapped up at the sound of the voice, he recognized it as belonging to the one and only:

"Ash?"

The tall man in dark brown clothes emerged from the forest with his two pokemon by his side, and he wasn't looking to friendly at the moment.(not that he ever was in the first place)

"You really fucked up, you know that?" The trainer shook his head as he, much to Brock's surprise, sat down next to him. "Was it that hard to keep your mouth shut for once?"

"I... I'm sorry..." Brock sighed as he looked down towards the ground in regret. "I didn't think... I... I..."

"Don't worry, Old-Twerp." The scratch-cat, Meowth, smiled a weak smile as he stood in front of him. "We're going to leave now anyway, we couldn't help but see some of the guests not being too... welcoming..."

"WHAT!" Brock shouted out as he suddenly stood up and looked at the three beings with a furious expression on his face. "You can't go! You can't leave me here alone!"

"Who says we can't?" The smirk on the trainer grew as he took off his hat and put it next to him. "Face it, we were never welcome when we got here... and we're not the least bit welcome now either."

"That's not true!" Brock exclaimed. "How do you think people will react when they see someone that they thought was dead for years!"

"Calm down." Ash growled as he glared at the breeder, which Brock couldn't really see since most of Ash's bangs covered his face.

"No! I won't calm down!" Brock shouted as he started to pace as he made wild gesture with his arms. "It took Gary and me four days to track you down! It took us more than a day to convince you to come! And what do you do when you get here? You insult the other guests and seduce the girls! Do you even know what havoc you've caused the wedding! Just because you're too scared to meet up with Ma-"

Brock couldn't continue as Ash chose that moment to show some of the strength that he had gained by lifting Brock up into the air by the neck, slowly choking him.

"Don't you talk to me about being 'scared'!" It was probably the first time Ash had raised his voice since Brock met him. "I've seen things that people wouldn't even dream of in their darkest nightmares, I've cheated death numerous times, I've seen people and pokemon get slaughtered by an organization that's only known in Orre, I've seen just about everything!"

Brock felt the panic come to his head as he felt the trainer tighten his grip around his throat.

"A...Ash... please..." Brock tried to plead.

The expression in Ash's eyes scared even Pikachu, but not Meowth though, the cat was used to the events since he too had experienced them a long time ago.

"That's enough, boss." The cat put a paw on his master's leg. "I think he gets it now."

Brock fell down on the grass, coughing as he looked up at the angered trainer. Brock could feel the tears build up in his eyes.

"I... I..." The breeder couldn't speak, he could only watch as the trainer picked up his hat and walked away with his two pokemon trailing after him.

"I think that it's time for you to destroy my invitation." Brock couldn't read the emotion in the trainer's voice. "You can tell the guests anything you want, I didn't care then and I don't care now."

* * *

"This is it, boss?" The cat asked as they stood by the motorcycle. "Nothing more? Just 'thank you and goodbye'?"

"Do you want to stay in this shit-hole?" The trainer growled. "I knew that it was a mistake coming here, who were we kidding? Did we really think that we could just come here without getting attention from those idiots?"

"Pika, Pi-pi kachu." The rodent sighed as he placed himself in the little dent on the bike. "Chu."

"I agree, let's go." Ash swung his leg up on the bike and tried starting it.

Nothing happened...

"What the hell?" The trainer growled, it was the first time it had refused to start. He tried again.

Only a choking noise could be heard from the bike...

Ash then caught a whiff of something in the air... he bent down under the bike and his eyes widened as when he saw it.

Something, or someone, had punctured the bottom of the tank, causing the gas to leak from the tank.

"Shit!" Ash picked up and rock and threw it at random, he ignored the crashing sound that it made on a special, white limousine. "I hate this bloody place!"

"Boss, what's wrong?" The cat and mouse had jumped off the bike and walked towards their trainer, frowns on their faces. "Why aren't we on our way?"

"Some punk punctured our tank!" Ash growled as he threw another rock at the white car and ignored the crashing sound. "I'm going to kill the one who did it!"

The trainer kicked the ground in frustration, he then sat down and leaned against the bike with a sigh.

"Can't we just take Garchomp and fly away from here?" Meowth asked with a frown as he saw his master slowly from the ground.

Ash only mumbled something they couldn't hear.

"What/Pika?" Came the sound of the two pokemon.

"I said that I sent him to the lab!" Ash shouted at his pokemon with a furious look.

"What!" The cat cried out in shock. "Why did you do that!"

"I don't know..." Ash sighed and hit himself on the head. "I have no idea..."

"Ash?" The trainer stiffened at the sound of the stupid breeder's voice.

"Get the hell out of here, Brock!" Ash shouted as he looked for another stone, he didn't find any. "If you care for your life, you'd better leave."

The breeder ignored the trainer's words and bravely walked straight up to him and looked him in the eyes.

"You're right." He finally said after a few second of silence. "I'm sorry, I forgot what you've been through, can you forgive me?"

"You're sorry, he's sorry, she's sorry, we're all a bunch of sorry fuckers, aren't we?" The trainer growled as he sniffed in the air. "You want to know something? After all these years of training my senses have improved, my senses of hearing, touch, taste, sight and smell... and I can smell gas on you..."

* * *

They were all there... Holly, May, Max, Dawn, Scott, Misty, Tracey, Samuel, Lola, Flint, Forrest, Lucian, Rhonda, Harley, Kenny, Barry, Zoey, Nando, Conway, Drew, Rudy, Soledad, Norman, Caroline, Johanna, Casey, Marilyn and Erika... Gary, Paul, Lt. Surge and Sabrina seemed a little off as they waited in a corner of the group, some of them smirking others not.

The mass of people saw the breeder walk slowly towards them with a bothered look on his face.

"Brock!" Holly shouted as she ran to him and hugged him. "Thank Mew that you're here! They have been asking me several questions about that guest and..."

Brock put a finger on her lips and silenced her.

"It's okay, I will explain." He whispered and kissed her on her forehead.

He then walked up towards the mass of people and faced them with a brave look.

"I think I need to explain something to you about my Best Man."

"You don't need to explain anything, Brock." Misty sent him a weak smile. "We can see it now."

"You... you can?" Brock stuttered dumbfound, had Gary told them?

"Yeah, and you didn't need to do all this." Forrest shook his head in slight amusement at his brother.

"Do what?"

"Ask someone to pretend to be Ash Ketchum, what else do you think?" The breeder looked towards Casey with huge disbelief, was the world coming to an end?

"What are you talking about!" Brock cried out in frustration.

"Come on, Brock." May didn't look too happy, but she decided to speak anyway. "I was probably the one who last saw Ash... and he's nothing like the man that we saw recently."

"No, you don't understa-"

"Brock," Max sighed as he adjusted his glasses. "Ash is shorter than me, his battle-style is completely different to the one who just battled, he didn't wear his cap... the only thing that reminded us of him was that he had the same hair-color and that he had a Pikachu...and since when would he go and get a Meowth?"

Brock grew angry, but then he thought about it... it was actually hard to believe that it was Ash. The new Ash didn't look one bit like the old one used to do, and he was sorry for it.

"No, you don't understand." Brock shook his head. "It really is-"

"Please, Brock." Norman sighed as he walked a little closer to the breeder. "We all miss Ash, but you can't just go and ask someone to pretend to be-"

His sentence was interrupted by laughter, the mass of people directed their looks towards the two males that were walking away, one of them was a Frontier Brain and the other one was an electric-type gym leader.

"Where are you going!" Misty demanded as grabbed them around their arms with a firm grip and dragged them back, showing off her amazing strength. "And what's so funny?"

"Nothing." Paul had stopped laughing now and smirked. "Only that his 'friends' really trust him."

"What do YOU know about Ash?" Dawn glared at him. "As I recall it, you two hated each other!"

"'As I recall it'?" Paul frowned as he prepared to walk away. "He's really right."

"What is 'he' right about!" Half of the people in the assembly yelled. "Who's 'he'?"

"That's 'he'" The Pyramid Master smirked as he pointed towards the hill where a person in dark brown clothes stood, he had a yellow rodent and a cat at each side of him. "I quote: 'What friends? You mean those gullible idiots that can't see the difference between a Diglett and a Dragonite?'"

"WHO ARE YOU!" The group jumped high up in the air as Max's voice broke through the silence. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

The man on the hill didn't show any sign of responding to the query, he only stood there and was surrounded then surrounded by a grim aura.

"That's Ash Ketchum!" Brock declared with a loud voice. "Or at least he used to be..."

"'Used to be'?" An unknown voice from the group asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"He isn't the same." Brock simply said as he looked at the group with sad eyes. "He's just not the same..."

"Where did he go!"

The breeder turned around quickly and was stunned, had Ash walked away and ignored their agreement? They had an agreement that he would show himself and talk to the guests if he got-

Brock halted himself as he slowly turned around and saw a dark brown hat moving behind the group and entering the house. The breeder looked at his fiancé and saw that she had noticed him too... and it seemed like she knew what to do.

"Alright, the show's over!" Holly declared loudly. "Let's get back to work! It's only three days to the wedding!"

The males started to mutter curses under their breath as they walked back towards their stations to work, some of them received glares from the girls for their words.

"You too, Brock." Holly smiled weakly towards her soon-to-be husband. "I can handle it."

The breeder only gulped and nodded as he walked away slowly from the scene and followed the other males to find some work to do.

Holly now turned towards the remaining females with a strict look on her face.

"Sabrina, why don't you and May go to the gym and see if the guys need some instructions?" The former bird-trainer hoped to Mew that it would help.

The psychic trainer seemed to know what she was referring to and seemed a little offended, but then she only nodded and dragged the still confused brunette coordinator towards the gym.

Holly made a gesture to the rest of the girls to follow her as she walked inside the house and took a deep breath.

She quickly scouted the surroundings and saw a little rodent lying on the carpet, the little mouse opened its eyes and rushed towards the kitchen.

The group followed the rodent and looked in...

Ash sighed as he saw the mass of females stand in the kitchen and look at him with mixed emotions... some of them bad and others not.

"Can I help you?" He decided that it was time to speak, but it was more a growl than a question.

"Answer this:" Holly directed her gaze towards him, but she quickly diverted it as she felt the deadly glare that the trainer was giving. "Are you, or are you not, Ash?"

The man in brown clothes took a sip of the beer he had taken from the fridge before he looked towards the group of females without blinking.

"I'm Ash Satoshi Ketchum from Pallet Town, Kanto, my first pokemon was a Pikachu and I don't care what you want or what you-" He was stopped as he was attacked, by two sudden blurs.

"Ash!" Came voices from a redhead and a blunette as they jumped onto him and knocked him off his chair.

"What the hell!" Ash shouted as he tried to get up, which wasn't easy since the two females were hugging him so tightly he couldn't move his arms.

"Hey! Twerpette and Third-Twerpette, let him go!... or I'll make you!" The cat growled as he extended his claws.

The cat's action caused every girl in the room to stagger back quickly and stand against the wall.

"What's Team Rocket doing here!" Half of them shouted and pulled their pokeballs from different places. "Are you one of them!"

"I miss Orre..." Ash groaned as he got up, his hat still on his head. "At least the girls there had both brains and beauty... I can see that some of you have none of it."

The females gasped, now they really knew that it couldn't possibly be Ash that stood in front of them, the Ash they knew wasn't that mean or interested in girls...

"Who are you!" The demanded as they looked straight at him. "What have you done to Ash!"

"Are we done yet?" The trainer sighed and got up from his chair. "Let me make one thing clear: I'm not here for recognition, pity, hate, revenge, love or anything else, I'm here because I don't have a choice."

"What?" Came the sound of several puzzled voices.

The trainer sighed and walked straight through the gathering of females and left the house with the rodent and cat on his shoulder.

He waited outside for about two minutes before the females stormed out and surrounded him within seconds.

"Maybe you're Ash, and maybe you're not." Holly frowned a bit. "But it would help if we could at least see your face, take off your hat!"

"What do I look like?" The trainer asked with a frown as he gripped one of his pokeballs and readied himself for battle. "A male-stripper?"

"I wish..." Ash frowned at the voice of Casey, the Electabuzz-fan.

"You're not going to leave this place until you've taken off that hat!" Johanna exclaimed and scared some of the younger woman with the eagerness in her voice. "There's twelve of us and only one of you!"

"Then why don't you get some more people so it would be an even fight?" His smirk grew even bigger as he summoned a pokeball in his left hand too. "How are we going to solve this...?"

The girls were about to respond... but they got interrupted when a little child with blue hair suddenly ran up and hugged the legs of the dark man.

"Adoshi!" The little child smiled a slight toothless smile as he hugged the legs of the dark man even tighter. "Mommy sez dat you wood eat wif us later!"("Mommy said that you would eat with us later!" Do note that he is only 2 years old...)

"Can somebody remove this thing from me?" The trainer asked with a groan as he tried to release himself from the boy's grip without hurting him... but that was impossible.

The boy started to climb up the trainer's body and he pushed Pikachu off the trainer's shoulder as he sat there, but it didn't stop there... The boy continued to climb up the irritated trainer till he finally pushed away the wide brimmed hat so he could properly sit on Ash's shoulders.

The women's eyes widened as they saw the man in front of them, their hearts started beating faster as they saw the handsome face of the young trainer in front of them, but his eyes... his eyes reminded them of the Ash they once knew, but they were so cold and serious now… he had the eyes of a veteran who had seen a lot in life...

"Get off me..." Ash mumbled as he finally managed to lift the little boy off him and put him down on the ground. "Are you happy?" The frown was clearly visible on his face as he looked towards the group of girls.

They didn't respond, they were simply stunned by the vision they saw in front of them, some of them were even thinking things like: 'If only I were fifteen years younger...' or 'Why am I married?'.

"Well..." Holly was the first to speak up, mostly because she had heard Brock say a few things about the 'new' Ash and was on her guard. "You seem like a strong guy, why don't you help out with the wedding?"

"Let him clean the pool!" The dark trainer's eyes pierced through the crowd, looking for the one who suggested it.

"We don't have a pool." They could really mask their voices really well...

"Then let's build one!"

Ash had enough, he walked towards his favorite hill near the house as he heard the girls bickering on what job they were going to make him do.

* * *

"Well, this sucks big time, boss." Meowth sighed. "Are you sure that we can't go?"

"I gave him my word..." Ash growled as he gazed over the parking lot, a smirk grew on his face as he saw a blond man kneel at the place where his car once stood. "Trust me, if I could leave I would... but, as I said before, I gave him my word."

"You know, boss." The cat shook his head as he looked towards his master. "You really take the never-break-a-promise-thing a little too seriously..."

The man just shrugged and continued to watch at the mourning blond.

* * *

"Brock!" The breeder turned around as he saw his fiancé approach him with a worried face, what had Ash done now?

"Yes, what's the matter?" Brock hurried towards her to check to see if she was alright, he sighed in relief as he saw that she only looked worried.

"Ash is gone." She sighed. "We were discussing what he should help with and he... well, he disappeared."

"You tried to put Ash in work!" Brock nearly shouted as he looked at her with big eyes. "Holly! You shouldn't trust him with anything right now, he has already destroyed two cars just because he didn't like their owners."

"Two?" The breeder's fiancé had a puzzled look on her face, but she didn't ask since Brock's face had a 'Don't ask'-look.

"But... where is he then?" The former bird-trainer asked with a slight frown.

"I think I know where he might be..." The breeder growled slightly as he walked out of the gym in search of the dark trainer.

* * *

"Hey, kid, you know where I can get something to drink?" Max turned around slowly, slightly surprised that he didn't recognize the voice. He got a dumbfounded look on his face when he saw who stood before him.

"Ash?"

"I go by that name, do I know you?" The brown dressed trainer asked with a slight frown under his hat.

"It's me, Max!" The gym-leader apprentice started to wave his hands frantically. "It's so good to see you!"

"Okay, okay, calm down now, kid." Ash tried to push him away gently so he could be released from the hug that Max had enveloped him in. "As I asked before: Do you know where you can get something to drink?"

"But... but..." Max was puzzled, why did Ash behave as though he didn't care if he had met him or not. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

The trainer only shrugged. "Not really."

He then walked pass him in his hunt for an alcoholic beverage.

Max was left there dumbfounded, what had happened to Ash? Why wasn't he excited to see him? Why was-

"Don't take it so hard, Short-Twerp." Meowth suddenly appeared from out of nowhere, along with Pikachu, and looked at him with a weak smile.

"Team Rocket!" Max shouted as he grabbed one pokeball. "What are you doing here!"

"How could you travel with them for so long, Pikachu?" The cat asked the rodent with a frown, all he got was a shrug. "Well, Short-Twerp, for the record, I've been the boss's pokemon for some years now..."

"Who?" The bespectacled boy had a visible frown on his face as he lowered his hand that was holding the pokeball.

"PikaPi!" The rodent exclaimed while it shook its little head. "Pikachu, Pikapipi chu!"

"What?"

The two pokemon only shook their heads in disappointment as they walked away from the even more confused trainer.

"Max!" The young trainer sighed in relief as he saw the breeder come running towards him, he seemed really exhausted.

"Brock! Did you know that Team Rocket's Meowth is with Ash and-"

"Yes, yes, I know about that." Brock waved away Max's comments hastily. "It's a long story, I need to find Ash, did you see him?"

"Yeah, he went that way and-"

"Thanks!" The breeder interrupted the poor, young, trainer once again as he continued on his hunt for the dark trainer.

Brock continued to run for a while, that was until he bumped into Gary, Tracey and Forrest.

"Hey, guys!" Brock hurried up to them, but they seemed to be looking for something too... "Have you seen Ash around here? Tall guy, insulting everything he passes?"

"I'm sorry, Brock." Tracey shook his head. "We haven't seen him... and we can't help you either since we're looking for Samuel."

"What?" Brock had a deep frown on his face as he heard the assistant's words. "What are you talking about?"

"This clown here." Gary growled slightly as he made a gesture towards Tracey. "Lost my grandfather somehow..."

Brock couldn't help but tilt his head anime-style, how the heck could you lose a person like that?

"It wasn't my fau-" Tracey was about to defend himself but was halted by loud laughter.

"What was that?" One of the squint-eyed members of the Harrison family, Forrest, asked in confusion as he looked towards the source of the sound.

"I don't know, but let's check it out!" Brock exclaimed as they began to run towards the direction that they had heard the laughter emanate from.

They only needed to run for a half minute until they saw something that not only made them lose their breath... more out of exertion than anything else, but also caused their jaws to drop as they beheld what was before them.

Three people and two pokemon sat by a little fire, one of them had a light brown cloak and a matching hat with blue pants, he was holding some kind of harp and seemed radiate some kind of calm aura about him.

The other one had a dark brown coat and a dark brown Stetson-hat and black jeans, the man usually had a bitter and angry look... but now he seemed rather happy and was laughing along with the other man in the group as well as the rodent and cat.

The third man had gray hair and was really old, but he didn't seem so old now when he was in this company, he seemed really happy.

"You're serious?" The man in dark brown clothes, Ash, hunched down in laughter once more. "You really did that?"

"Oh yes." The old and former professor Oak smiled proudly. "I was young then and my friends pushed me into her, so I didn't have much of a choice."

"A very interesting story indeed!" Nando exclaimed as plucked at his harp.

"You said it, mate!" Ash laughed a little bit more as he took one more sip of the alcoholic beverage he had finally found.

"Heh, Senior-Twerp." Meowth shook his head in amusement. "You're even worse than the boss, isn't that right, Bard-Twerp?"

"Maybe so, my little pokemon friend." The bard smiled weakly at the cat's nickname for him. "Maybe so."

"And then, another time." Samuel Oak began to tell another one of his childhood stories for the two young men and pokemon around the fire... that was until they noticed the unwelcome guests.

"Tracey!" The former professor got up slowly, picked up his cane and walked towards him. "Ash is back!"

"N... nice to see you, Ash." Tracey gulped as he saw that Ash's mood had sunk and he now glared at the uninvited people.

"Grandpa, what's wrong?" Gary asked with a puzzled look. "I thought that you said you were weak!"

"Oh, that?" Samuel Oak laughed a little sheepishly. "It seems like I exaggerated that a little bit, but I am growing old."

"You have lived a good life, old man." Ash spoke now with a small smile. "A very good life indeed."

"Oh, Ash." Brock suddenly remembered why he was here. "The girls are looking for you, they have found something for you to do."

"So?" The frown once again appeared on the trainer's face. "Why should I go to them?"

"Remember our agreement!" Brock exclaimed as he tried to challenge Ash's piercing look with his own. Needless to say, he lost...

"Alright, but it won't be pretty when I'm done..." Ash growled as he got up and walked towards the house.

"We should follow him." Brock suddenly spoke to the group. "The girls want us to gather at the house for an announcement.

The group nodded and made their way towards the house where the assembly was said to be.

It only took them a few minutes since they weren't that far away from the house, and when they got there the girls had already begun talking.

"So, when we were looking for a dress for Holly, we saw a wonderful restaurant that we decided to go to!" Lola smiled her cheeky smile as she looked at the frowning group of males. "However, they are really expensive so we can't afford to go alone and-"

"We are NOT going with you!" Lt. Surge barked as he glared at them and flexed his muscles threateningly. "It's enough that you're making us working our asses off here, but we are NOT going to pay for your food!"

The other males started to clap to show their support for the brave gym leader... that was until the blond gym leader started to float in the air, and everybody started to back away from the psychic gym leader, Sabrina.

Brock quickly looked around for Ash and sighed in relief when he saw Paul use both his and his Electivire's strength to keep Ash from charging the psychic trainer.

"Let him down, Sabrina." Holly sighed, why did Sabrina always do that to Lt. Surge? "We don't gain anything by using violence."

Sabrina didn't speak, her eyes only stopped glowing as she let down the big man on the ground so he stood on his shaking legs as he glared at her.

"Anyone else who have anything against the idea?" Lola asked in a chirpy tone.

"I have." The dark voice caused several heads turn and look towards Ash. "I've wasted enough money on girls, I won't do it anymore..." He walked away with those words and left the group dumbfound.

Meowth and Pikachu looked around before they deciding that it was time to follow their master and ran to him. They found him leaning against the kitchen door with his eyes half-closed.

"Hey, boss!" Meowth panted slightly as he ran up to his trainer. "Are you sure about this, I've heard that the restaurant makes pretty good food.

"Don't try me, Meowth." Ash growled a little. "I'm not going to let you convince me to come to another of those Tauros-shit things that they want us to do... besides, I've already eaten."

"That's good to hear, Ash." The trainer jerked his head up suddenly, more of shock for not hearing them approach him than anything else. "Because they have eaten too and we can't bring them to the restaurant..."

"What are you saying...?" The trainer growled as he looked at Lola, Holly and Dawn with glares that made them both blush and back away slightly in fear.

"We are..." Lola straightened herself and walked up a little closer to him. "We are saying that they have an age-limit of ten years old and we can't take our children with us and we don't really want to choose another restaurant.

"No..." Ash's eyes grew huge as he began to back away. "Forget it, I'm NOT doing it."

"Come on, Ash, it's only for a couple of hours!" Dawn exclaimed as she winked at him with a faint dust of red on her cheeks.

"I can't handle children." Ash shook his heads as he prepared to leave. "I've never been good at that and never will."

"Don't try us, Ash." Holly smiled a bit weakly. "We all know that if you just treat the children as you treat your pokemon they'll be fine!"

Ash was about to say something but then stopped himself.

"Really?" He asked with his eyebrows raised. "Is it really that simple?"

"Of course!" Lola smiled and made a gesture with her hands.

Suddenly, five small children came out of nowhere and jumped onto the unsuspecting trainer and caused him fall to the ground.

"Friends already!" Lola chirped. "Well, good luck and we'll be seeing you later!"

"Wait!" Ash shouted after them, but he didn't get any response from them as they had somehow left the property with the rest of the group and left Ash alone with five small children.

"Okay..." He said after a while as the children stood in line and looked at him with big eyes. "Tell me your names and your ages."

"I'm Scott and I'm two years old!" The blue headed boy smiled brightly as he then sat down on the ground and continued to look at the tall man in front of him.

"I'm Suzie and I'm nine years old." A very shy girl, that Ash recognized from the bikers incident, looked down at the ground with a blushing face.

"Timmy, seven years!"

"Hello, I'm Billy and I'm almost five!"

"And I'm Tilly and I'm four!"

The trainer didn't even to bother to tell the difference between the two last since he thought that they looked exactly alike. But this might not be so hard after all.

"So..." The trainer looked at the children in front of him once again. "... what's up?"

"I just did a doo doo." The little child with blue hair stated innocently.

"Oh, fu..."

**End of chapter 11**

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* * *

**

**I think you can figure out Ash's last word there... feel sorry for the guy.**

**I know that you don't like cliffhangers... but it's unfortunately the only way to get you to review :P But I should do my best to not use them!**

**I want to thank Justiez for looking and correcting the grammar**** of this chapter and before I sent it!**

**I've really no idea on when the next chapter's coming out... but I'll try and make it as soon as possible!**

**It's better to review later than never and I'll be seeing you in the next chapter! (I also have put up a NEW poll on my profile, I would like to see what you guys think!)**

**R&R!  
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	12. Chapter 12

**I'm sorry for the long waiting guys, but, believe it or not, I've actually a life :/**

**Anyway, I did a chapter over 10.000 words, to make up the lost time! Enjoy it!**

**B.T.W, to the reviewer that signed his review: "This story ruined my wedding"  
If it's true: I'm sorry to hear that. But, if you were too busy with surfing on the Internet a few hours before your wedding and forgot the time... well, then maybe you were not meant to be.  
If it's not true: Are you the same guy that threatened to commit suicide, if I didn't update?**

**But, let's forget that now.**

**Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review at the end of it (which would only seem fair since I spend 48 hours on writing this chapter, and it only takes about two minutes to review...)!**

**R&R!  
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* * *

"You do it!" Was the voice that echoed through the estate of the Harrison family.

"Why me!" Came a husky voice in response.

"Several reasons." Stated the dark trainer in dark brown clothes as he looked down at his scratch-cat pokemon with a hard glare. "One, I'm your trainer, so I command you to do it; Two, you're the oldest amongst us, so you know how to do it; Three, you're supposed to be the engineer of this team, so that's why you'll do it."

"Why can't Pikachu do it, boss?" Meowth, the cat, asked rather nervously as he pointed a trembling paw at the little rodent that had placed himself on the floor beside the children.

"Pikachu's paws aren't as good for this job as yours are." Ash, the dark trainer, simply stated as he looked towards the little rodent and then back towards the cat. "You do it."

As the rodent, cat and trainer were arguing, they didn't notice a girl, in an orange dress, walk towards a little boy, pick him up, take him to the bathroom, and use one of her little sibling's diapers to change him, walk back with the little boy, stand before the tall man and look up at him.

Ash now noticed the little girl who seemed rather pleased with herself as she looked up towards the man with a blushing face.

"Done! Mr. Ketchum!" Suzie, the nine year old girl in an orange dress, declared as she handed the little child to the trainer.

"What the hell...?" The dark trainer mumbled as he held the happy child in front of him, the disgusting smell was gone and the little kid looked like it didn't have a care in the world. "Of course... I forgot that we had a girl in the group!"

"Boss..." The cat sighed, but he decided not to do anything and let his master continue with his sexist statements.

"Alright." The trainer's mood had lightened up some now that he knew that the girl could take care of the children. "I'm going out for a while, so... Suzie, was it? Okay, take care of those things while I'm gone."

He was about to leave, but, once again he cursed his luck as he felt a tug on his legs. He turned around and looked down and saw the little boy with blue hair smile his slightly toothless grin at the trainer.

"Sadosi, stay!" The little smile would've caused any adults heart to melt ... any normal adult that is. "Pwease!"

"Forget it, kid." The trainer shook him off his leg as he prepared to walk out once again. "I deserve my free-time and-"

He was interrupted by a loud cry that came from the little blue haired boy, tears poured down from the two years olds eyes as he sobbed.

"S... Sadosi... do... don w... wan... want... to pway... wif... u... us!"

"Finally! Someone got that right!" Ash sighed in relief, happy that the child finally understood him. "That's good, well, see you later and-"

"Forget it, boss." Meowth placed himself in front of his masters way, blocking him. "Neither you, nor me, is going to abandon these children, they left us with a mission and we're going to finish it!"

Ash was about to protest, but then some kind of unknown force play a trick on his mind, he felt something he hadn't felt for a while, he felt pity...

"Shit!" He pounded the wall as hard as he could, stopping Scott's crying and scaring the other children. "Why me! Those fuckers!"

He inhaled sharply as he looked around, the children's eyes were wide like dinner plates as they looked at the man in front of them.

"What are you looking at?" The trainer asked rather uncomfortable as he couldn't help but back away slightly from them.

"What does 'Shit' and 'fuckers' mean?" One of the siblings whose name Ash didn't bother to remember, asked him with round eyes.

"You don't know what it means?" The trainer asked with a frown, which deepened when he saw them shook their little heads. "By Arceus, what kind of messed up childhood did you get?"

He then sighed and placed himself on a couch in the living room, the children quickly ran towards the other seats around the coffee table and continued to eye the big trainer.

"Well, let's get started then." The trainer took a deep breath before he began his explanation.

"Any other questions?" The very tired trainer asked after an hour of questioning from the little beings in front of him.

"I have!" A little child named Timmy asked... again.

"Go on..." The trainer sighed.

"What does 'jerk' mean?"

"Do you remember what 'shit-head' means?" The trainer asked the little boy, which nodded his head eagerly. "Well, it's about the same thing... I should say a slight kinder word for a person... why do you ask?"

"Aunt May called you that a few days ago!" Timmy declared proudly. "Does that mean that you're a shit-head?"

"Well, let's face it." Ash muttered annoyed with a little smirk. "Aunt May eats children."

The children's eyes, that had been big before, now grew even bigger, and some of them even started to look scared.

"Haha! Your idol eats children!" Came a voice from one of the unknown siblings.

"She does not!" The other of the siblings snapped back.

"Dilly! Filly!... or something..." Ash ignored his pokemons' sweat-dropps. "I told you to stop fighting!"

"But he/she started it!" The twins defended themselves as they pointed at each other.

"I don't give a shit, I don't want to hear one word from you, got it?" The trainer threatened.

"Okay, Uncle Ash." Tilly mumbled slightly ashamed under her breath.

"Suck-up..." Billy growled silently towards his sister.

"Jerk..."

"That's it!" The dark trainer growled as he got up from his chair, he walked towards the twins and picked both of them by the legs and carried them towards his back-pack, where he then picked up something from it and walked out from the house.

He came back after five minutes and looked rather satisfied with himself... the other children didn't dare to ask him what he did.

"Boss, you didn't... did you?" The cat asked slight worried.

"Don't worry," The trainer yawned slightly. "A grown man can stand it for four days and be perfectly fine after, I think they can last at least two days."

"Boss..." The cat face-palmed, but deep down he felt slight pride for what his master had done, those two had been especially irritating.

"Tell us a story!" Another random call from one of the children was called out to the trainer and pokemon.

"I want to hear a romantic story!"

"No! Let's hear a funny one!"

"No, no! Tell us a tragic one!"

"A cool story, please!"

"No! A-"

"Shut up!" Ash had to shout to get them to be quiet, and he was rather satisfied when he saw that it worked. "Romance is for suckers, I've had enough of drama and sadness in my whole life, 'funny' is not one of my favorite categories..."

There was a pause in the trainer words as he seemed to be deep in thought.

"I can tell you a story, it's about one of my adventures in Orre."

"Yay!" Was the collective sound that came from the remaining children inside the house.

"Okay, let's get started then..." Ash took a deep breath, but it was more to gather his thoughts.

"A year and a half ago; Me, Pikachu and Meowth had just entered the base of Team Chip-"

"Boss!" Meowth hissed at him, he knew this story himself... and he knew that it wasn't a children-friendly one...

"Alright, I get what you mean." The dark trainer shook his head in annoyance at his pokemon.

"Fine; Me, Pikachu and Meowth had just entered the... hmm... Funhouse, of Team... Chippy..." Ash groaned inwardly in embarrassment, but nevertheless he continued his story. "We had gotten information about a... party... that one of the girls that I had... shaken hands with...?" Meowth and Pikachu did a face-palm at the same time. "We were down deep in the tunnel as the alarm went off and we decided..."

* * *

"Then, when we were at the experiments of... toys... we got got discovered again and we had to fi-...hug... our way out." The trainer sighed, the past hour he had done nothing than telling the children about the mission, that they had got from one of the clients, in a censored version. "Several... clowns... were upon us. One of them managed to sneak past Pikachu and Meowth as they were... hugging... their... friends..., the clown 'hugged' me from behind and I had trouble... laughing... so I pulled out my... pen... and... pointed... it in him so he had to let go of me. Then, when he was immobilized by the amount of... ink... that was... umm... 'leaking'... out from him, I saw my chance and... hugged... him really hard."

The trainer made a pause there and had his eyes closed as he remembered the memory that had been, he couldn't explain the emotion he had felt that day.

"They say that the more people you hug the easier it gets... it's not true, I can still see the peoples' faces in my dreams... sometimes, even in the bright day... if I only had turned left in the corridor, we hadn't needed to encounter those soldiers and kil-"

"Okay! That's enough, boss!" Meowth quickly interrupted him so he wouldn't scar the children's minds forever. "Anyway, the story simply ended after we had hugged all the clowns and went to bed!"

There was a moment of silence; Ash was in deep thoughts about the memory, Meowth was praying to an unknown force that it would work, Pikachu had fallen asleep after his third bottle of ketchup and the children were too busy taking in the censored version of the story to say anything.

"That was boring!" Timmy finally had the courage to speak. "There wasn't any action in it! Why didn't you act cooler!"

"Why, you little-" The trainer looked like he was about to strangle the child. However, he was, fortunately, interrupted by a feminine scream.

"Billy! Tilly!" The trainer recognized the scream as Lola's. "What! Why! How! When!"

"I think it's time for us to split, Meowth." Ash said slowly as he could see the shadows of several people approach the house.

"Couldn't agree more, boss." The cat nodded.

"Kitchen door?" The trainer more stated than asked as he picked up his dozing rodent before he walked away at a fast pace towards the door, not wanting to look back...

* * *

_Next day..._

* * *

"Come on, it wasn't that bad." The trainer muttered as he looked up from his seated position at the four people that stood in front of him.

"'Wasn't that bad'!" Lola cried out. "You tied our children up in a tree! Upside down!"

"They deserved it!" Ash defended himself as he got up and now looked down on the woman. "I told you, I don't do charity work."

"What? So you're saying that you would've done better if we had paid you?" Holly asked with her voice filled with sarcasm. "Don't you realize what you've done! The children don't dare go near May, Barry, or Sabrina!"

"I just told them the truth." The trainer shrugged and prepared to leave. "Okay, maybe I exaggerated a little... but not that much."

"'A little'!" Brock shouted in fury. "You told them that Sabrina would cook them, May would eat them and Barry would take care of their bones!"

"Hey, they wanted to hear a scary story, I didn't know that it would affect them that badly!" Ash couldn't help but back away a little from the aura of hate that the two females were radiating.

"And what about those words!" Lola screamed to him. "They're all minors, you know!"

"Heh, the sooner the better." Ash just shrugged. "And before you say it, THEY wanted to know where babies came from, I just didn't want to pull off the same lie as you and blame it on a Fearow."

"But, did you really have to use us as an example?" Flint asked calmly with a slight blush on his face.

"I only thought it made more sense since you're the kids' parents." The dark trainer stated as he walked pass them. "I'm off to get something to eat, don't disturb me."

"Hold on!" Brock grabbed his arm, but let it go quickly as he faced the deadly glare of Ash. "Since your battle with Barry... the girls- I mean, we, have decided that nobody is allowed to carry more than one pokemon until the wedding is over."

Ash only looked at his two pokemon, then he burst out in laughter along with them.

"Y... yeah!" Ash slowed his laughter down before replacing his laughter with one of his trademark death-glares "Are you saying that I need to send my pokemon home and only keep one? Forget it."

"We're not expecting you to send them home!" Brock defended himself as he placed himself in front of Ash. "You can let them rest at our, mine and Holly's, daycare center."

Ash only shook his head in amusement before he pushed Brock aside and continued towards the house.

"Remember our agreement!"

Those words caused Ash to stop mid stride, he slowly turned around and faced the breeder with a look of pure hate and a promise of a slow, painful, death.

"If you so much as hurt, or treat my pokemon badly, I will hunt you down, and I will kill you." There was no humor in Ash's voice, he meant every word and the others understood it.

"Don't worry, I won't." Even Ash had to admire Brock's bravery as he held his hands out in front of him. "Can I have your pokeballs, please?"

The trainer only muttered something that couldn't be interpreted as anything nice as he handed the breeder his pokemon, but it seemed like he was whispering something to them before he handed them over.

He then looked at his two pokemon that he cared the most for, the rodent and the cat.

"Who wants to go?" The trainer asked with a rather kind voice. "One of you has to lead the other ones there, or else they'll probably tear that place apart."

"Pika, Pikachu-pikapi." The little rodent sighed as it jumped off Ash's shoulder and onto Brock's. "Pika-pi-pi, chu."

"Okay, buddy." Ash sighed slightly; he then turned towards the breeder once again. "You WILL let them move freely in there, and you will NOT keep them in their balls against their will... do I even need to tell you what's going to happen if you so much as put Pikachu into a pokeball?"

"N... No, sir!" Brock gulped as he first looked down on the pokeballs, and then he simply ran towards the daycare so he could let them out as fast as possible, the rodent had to cling onto his shoulder just to stay on.

The breeder had now left Ash, Meowth, Lola, Flint and Holly in an awkward silence that Ash seemed to enjoy... that was, until Holly decided to break it.

"Oh, by the way, Ash," She smiled rather nervously towards him as he looked at her from under his hat. "We're going to have rehearsals for the wedding when Brock comes back."

"So?"

"Well... you're his Best Man after all, that means that you've got to be there too!"

Ash only looked at her, but she didn't see his eyes as his hat covered it. "We'll see." With those two words he walked away from the group.

* * *

"Okay, now, have fun!" Brock shouted to nobody in particular as he released Ash's pokemon and allowed Pikachu to jump off his shoulder. "I need to go now, I can't be late for the rehearsals!"

The pokemon simply ignored him and didn't even look at him as he disappeared in the distance.

Pikachu quickly ordered the other pokemon to line up in front of him.

"(Alright!)" The little rodent shouted in a small, yet commanding, voice. "(As you've heard, before you were handed over, PikaPi has ordered me to take command over the team while he's absent!)"

"(We know, take it easy.)" A shell pokemon, named Blastoise, almost yawned. "(Just because you're his first pokemon you don't need to be so energetic.)"

"(Shut up, fool!)" The lizard, Sceptile, spat towards the turtle. "(Respect our master's choice, if he asked us to follow Pikachu, that's what we do!)"

"(I agree with Sceptile, Blastoise.)" The bug-pokemon, Butterfree, agreed. "(Pikachu has been with us all, when Ash caught me, when he traded me, when he released me, and even when he came back for me after I got my heart broken by that... that...)"

"(It's okay, Butterfree.)" Pikachu jumped onto Sceptile so he could comfort the hovering bug. "(We were just as surprised as you were by that bug's action!)"

"(So, what do you suggest... commander.)" Blastoise seemed to have accepted being led by another pokemon, for the moment. "(What's the plan?)"

But before Pikachu had time to answer him he was interrupted by Butterfree's eager voice.

"(Incoming, from the south!)" The butterfly eagerly shouted.

All five of the pokemon lined up and looked towards the approaching group that was coming.

It was a group of three pokemon. One of them had a green shell with a tree on, the other one was a bird with a black body and some kind of white beard, and the last one was one from Pikachu's evolution line, Raichu.

"(I see that your masters weren't able to keep you either.)" Sceptile smirked as he saw the pokemon. "(It's nice to see that it's not only us that are normal here.)"

"(It's a relief to see you, guys.)" Lt. Surge's pokemon, Raichu, stated honestly. "(I thought that I was about to go crazy with all those goons over there)"

"(It wasn't that bad.)" Honchkrow, one of Paul's pokemon, tried to defend the unknown pokemon. "(They were just new and inexperienced.)"

"(Hey! At least a brown rabbit didn't ask you if you knew a Pikachu all the time!)" The evolution of the dark trainer's pokemon snapped. "(I was THIS close at firing a Thunderbolt on that-)"

"(Watch you language!)" The voice of Torterra boomed through the air. "(We need to respect our fellow pokemon, just as they respect us.)"

"(But, that's the problem, they DON'T respect us!)" Raichu stated in frustration as he pulled his ears to show it.

"(Even I can admit that they've been a little cold to us, yes.)" The wise one of the group, Honchkrow, agreed with his friend.

"(What are you guys-)" Butterfree got interrupted by the large turtle that had been thinking of something for a while.

"(Hey, Raichu, how come Lt. Surge put you in here?)" The turtle eyed him, confused. "(As I recall it, you're the only pokemon that he has with him.)"

The Raichu just shrugged. "(He didn't want Paul's pokemon to be all alone.)"

"(Don't mind that.)" Pikachu waved its little paws to get attention. "(Tell us, why don't they respect you?)"

"(Easy, looks like Dawn's pokemon has spread the word about Paul's pokemon already... and I had to pick a side then.)" The bigger rodent just shrugged. "(But, who cares? They suck anyway.)"

"(I hope you dare saying that again, my friend.)" The calm in Honchkrow's tone scared them slightly. "(Because, here they come!)"

The pokemon looked towards the cloud of the charging mass of pokemon. They could see several different types of pokemon running towards them; Croagunk, Geodude, Wingull, Nosepass, Electivire, Glaceon, Blaziken, Blastoise, Beautifly, Cacturne and, to Pikachu's biggest fear, Buneary, were just a few of the pokemon that were charging at them.

"(Defensive stance?)" Sceptile asked with a growl as he saw his opponents come towards him at an incredible speed.

"(No, I say that we wait until we've found out what they want.)" Butterfree, who had just rejoined the team and not gotten the 'honor' to meet the other pokemon...

"(You're the boss, Pikachu.)" Blastoise simply stated, and it looked like Paul's and Surge's pokemon had accepted that fact too and stood at the side of the little rodent.

But Pikachu couldn't speak, the fear in his eyes when he saw the approaching rabbit made him unable to neither move nor think... but one though was in his head, and his body obeyed it right after.

"_Jump!_"

The little rodent took a giant leap into the air and, surprisingly, landed on the butterfly, Butterfree, who seemed to accept his presence stationed on his back.

The mass of pokemon stopped about ten meters before Ash's, Paul's and Surge's pokemon, the emotions in their eyes were mixed.

There was a minute of silence, neither of the side spoke... however, Sceptile couldn't help but notice some of Barry's pokemon, that he had beaten, standing there and looking at him, causing him to smirk in their direction in a mocking manner.

"(HI, GUYS!)" The voice of the sea-worm, Gyarados, boomed through the silence as he sneaked towards the group from one of the streams in the area.

"(Hello, Gyarados...)" Pikachu sighed from his place on the butterfly.

"(Pikachu, do you know this freak?)" Sceptile just had to ask that out of the blue so everybody heard him... and yet, he ignored their angry glares.

"(Yeah, he's Misty's pokemon and-)"

"(FREAK!)" The worm's voice boomed again. "(WHO ARE YOU CALLING A FREAK! YOU LITTLE LIZARD!)"

"(Oh, he did NOT say that!)" Blastoise decided to defend his brother-in-arms as he lowered his canons towards Gyarados. "(Say that again... if you dare...)"

"(Stop it! All of you!)" A feminine voice from a Wingull echoed through the air. "(It's a wedding! We're not here to fight!)"

"(Pikachu, Sceptile, Blastoise, Butterfree...)" The hesitant voice of Gloom broke through the air. "(Why aren't you with us, why are you with... _them_.)"

"(And what's wrong with us?)" Raichu growled at them in a dangerous tone. "(At least we have the balls to say what we think!)"

"(Well, considering that more than half of them are females the 'balls-statement' is rather-)"

"(Nobody asked you, Honchkrow!)" Raichu snapped again. "(Are you with us, or are you with them?)"

"(Alright, guys.)" Pikachu sighed as he ordered Butterfree to lower him down on the ground. "(We're not here to fight, let's just act like normal and not battle each other.)"

"(You're the boss... for now...)" Blastoise muttered as he and Sceptile walked away from them, leaving the group of pokemon to watch them disappear.

The little rodent looked after them for a moment, then he shook his head and... got attacked by a brown blur?

"(Pikachu!)" The brown rabbit, Buneary, cried out. "(I've missed you so!... and I never got the time to thank you for saving Scott!)"

"(It was actually PikaPi that saved him-)" The little rodent got interrupted by Raichu's and Torterra's laughter as they watched the scene.

However, when Pikachu looked for support, they were gone! Along with all the other of Ash's pokemon. Leaving Pikachu and Buneary alone in an uncomfortable situation... well, for Pikachu that is.

"(So... why don't we mate?)" A blushing rabbit asked the poor rodent.

"(Pi?)"

* * *

The little butterfly hadn't really gotten used to be around other trainers pokemon, so that's why he was now flying around the park alone and looking for something to kill some time with... that was, until he met someone... or, more specifically, two other bugs...

"(I told you before, get off my back!)" Was, according to Butterfree, the most beautiful voice that he had ever heard.

"(Come on, sweetie, don't be like that... we both know you want it!)" Butterfree recognized that the voice came from another male Butterfree, so he just had to find out since the first voice didn't sound that friendly towards the other one...

Ash's Butterfree hovered slowly towards the source of the sound... then he stopped mid-way at the sight that was before him.

The females body was black-colored and butterfly-like. It had a long, curled black proboscis, large blue eyes and black antennae extending out of its head. Her face, underside, and four stubby limbs were gray in coloration. Its wings were large and colorful, the largest markings being yellow, with accentuations of red and blue. The rim of the wing also had a line of yellow on the edge, and the lower pair of wings has a long, round-tipped extension.

In other words: She was the most beautiful being Butterfree had ever seen.

"(Stop it!)" Ash's Butterfree's head snapped up as he heard, and saw, the unknown Butterfree make an close in on the other bug.

"(Hey!)" The butterfly-pokemon quickly flew towards the place and glared daggers towards the other one. "(What do you think that you're doing!)"

"(We're just having a little fun, go mind your own business!)" The other Butterfree snapped at him.

"(It doesn't look like she wants to... I say you'd better leave... now!)"

"(Or, wha-)" The other Butterfree was cut off when it felt a sudden pain in its stomach as Ash's Butterfree rammed into it with an powerful Tackle, pushing it away several meters before it regained its composure.

"(You... you...)" It didn't know what to say, it only glared at his new-found rival. "(Just wait! I'll be back!)"

With those words, it simply flew away as quick as it could, leaving Butterfree and the other pokemon in its wake.

"(A... are you... okay?)" Ash's pokemon asked with a slight blush as he looked at the beautiful being in front of him.

"(Yeah... thanks...)" The other pokemon said with the same hesitation as Butterfree. "(I... I'm Beautifly.)"

"(And I'm Butterfree... well, the better Butterfree that is!)"

Beautifly both giggled and blushed, even more, after Butterfree's joke.

"(Yeah, I can see that.)" The female bug said with another giggle. "(Thanks, again, for helping me.)"

"(My pleasure... but, if you don't mind me asking, what was up with him?)"

"(Oh, nothing... it's just that he's as arrogant as his trainer... Drew, I think his name was. Both of them are trying to mate with me and my mistress... without much success!)"

"(That's good to hear!)" The male butterfly laughed... but then a deep blush appeared on his face. "(Umm... I know that this might be sudden... but, will you... I don't know... do something, sometime?)"

"(Sure, I would love to!)" The female butterfly smiled with an equal blush on her face. "(When?)"

"(How about now?)" Butterfree asked eagerly as he began to fly around the other butterfly.

"(Let's go, then!)" His new-found partner laughed as they hovered away towards an unknown place.

"(_Looks like things finally are finally going my way!_)" Butterfree thought with a big smile... well, at least that who had resembled a smile if he had some kind of a normal face...

* * *

"(So, when I fire you dodge... it isn't difficult!)" The turtle explained with an irritated voice towards his friend. "(Let's get started then!)"

"(Hold on!)" The green lizard tried to protest the idea. "(Why me? Why can't I be the one that fires?)"

"(Because you have a type advantage!)" Blastoise simply stated. "(If you hit me I would be seriously injured... you, however, will barely take any damage.)"

"(Are you sure?)" The lizard asked with a hesitating voice.

"(Positive, are you ready?)"

"(Well, I guess I ca-)"

Sceptile didn't get to finish as a huge, and powerful, jet of water crashed straight into his body and sent him flying towards the woods with a breakneck speed.

Blastoise quickly turned around with his cannons aimed towards the direction the attack came from.

"(Who's there!)" He shouted. "(Come out! Or it won't be pretty!)"

"(Don't shoot!)"

"(I'm going to show you... don't... shoot...?)" He talked slower and slower as he saw the female Blastoise approach him with careful steps.

"(I'm sorry, it's just that he insulted Gyarados, and he's a very close friend of mine and... well, I think you can figure out the rest.)" The female Blastoise had a guilty look on her face.

"(Heh, I kinda understand you.)" Blastoise laughed a little for himself. "(Sceptile can sometimes be a big pain in the ass!)"

"(Thanks!)" The female smiled at the male. "(You think he'll let it slide as quick as you?)"

"(I'm sure of it!)" The male turtle laughed and seated himself next to the female. "(Come on, don't be shy, sit next to me!)"

The female nodded with a crimson blush on her face as she sat next to the strong warrior, they only sat there, neither of them said anything... but you could see one turtle move closer and closer towards the other one...

* * *

"(-ing turtles...)" Came the mutter from Sceptile. "(You think you know them... then they stab you in the back!)"

He had recently managed to get up from his blast, which had taken him at least a kilometer out as he was lying in the outskirts of the forest, up in a tree.

"(Getting your ass kicked as much as ever, I see!)" The head of the lizard snapped up at the sound of the familiar voice.

Sceptile quickly jumped down from the tree and placed himself in battle position in front of his opponent.

"(Blaziken... still as grotesque as ever!)" The lizard spat out his twig in her direction.

The fire-pokemon only laughed as she moved a little closer to him. "(Please! Don't tell me that you're still grumpy because I kicked your ass in that competition!)"

"(Okay, bitch, first off)" Sceptile growled as he focused his glare at her. "(You didn't kick my ass, it was a tie and I had a disadvantage! Second: Contests are only for pokemon that can't fight for real! I would like to see you battle without trying to show off some strange attire and 'amazing' moves!)"

"(In your environment? Forget it!)" Blaziken laughed loudly at him. "(Follow me, I know the perfect place for a battle!)"

"(Come back here, you bitch!)" Sceptile cursed as he began to hunt down his opponent that was running from him.

* * *

"(Leave me alone! Or I will get violent!)" The rodent shouted at his pursuer, the all too familiar rabbit.

"(And that's the way I like you!)" The rodent sweat-dropped at those words and quickened his pace.

"(Leave him alone!)" Came a different voice as he could see some kind of light-blue blur pass him and smash into the brown rabbit, sending her flying.

"(Ouch!)" The rabbit cried in both anger and pain as she got up and looked at her new rival. "(Go and mind your own business!)"

"(I will not let you continue to annoy other pokemon, stop following every Pikachu you see!)" The light-blue fox-pokemon growled at the rabbit.

Buneary was about to fight her... but, then she remembered all the other times she had tried that and shivered. It ended with that the rabbit only growled slightly back at her and skipped away, probably to wait for another moment to 'attack' Pikachu.

The rodent sighed in relief, he didn't know who had saved him... but he needed to thank whoever that it was.

"(Hey, thanks for-)" He stopped mid sentence as he saw who had saved him. "(Glaceon?)"

"(H... Hi, Pik... Pikachu...)" The ice-pokemon said with a shy voice as she looked down towards the ground.

"(Why are you here?)" The rodent got down on all four as his cheeks started to sparkle as he glared at his new-found opponent.

The fox got a dark look on her face. "(So, I see that you're as dense as you master...)"

"(I don't need your opinion!)" The rodent roared. "(Leave, now!)"

The fox was about to respond... but, she got interrupted by a big explosion that occurred near the south side of the fence... causing Pikachu to forget about her and rush towards the site of the explosion.

* * *

"(What the hell?)" Raichu cried out as he had to dodge another Flamethrower. "(I'm not in this conflict! Learn to aim you old-)" He was once again interrupted by a Flamethrower, that was aimed in his direction.

"(What's wrong? What's happening?)" The little, yellow rodent, Pikachu, shouted in both confusion and annoyance.

He looked around, the explosion seemed to have attracted several pokemon, heck, he would say almost all the pokemon in the daycare center...

The explosion had come from a pokemon, known as Blaziken, who was fighting against another pokemon, known as Sceptile.

"(That's all you got?)" The lizard laughed out loud at his opponent as he easily evaded another one of her attacks. "(See? You can't rely on beauty when it's about skill and power!)"

"(Shut up!)" Blaziken growled as she sent a Blaze Kick right at Sceptile, that went right under him and continued to... miss.

"(Surrender, you have no chance!)" The lizard laughed in a mocking manner once again.

"(Never!)"

"(What do you say, boss?)" Sceptile asked Pikachu, as he had just seen him. "(Should I finish it?)"

"(The sooner, the better.)" The rodent nodded as he saw Torterra and Honchkrow approaching.

Sceptile nodded as his leaf on his right arm began to glow bright green... he then smashed it into the unexpecting fire-pokemon's stomach, causing to her fall on her knees and clutch the spot where the attack had landed, with her hands.

She then looked up and saw a brown, tree-like, tail come towards her at an incredible speed. She tried to raise her hands to block the attack... but, there was no use as the tail smashed into her body and sent her flying several meters, out of the battlefield... Sceptile had won the battle.

"(Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!)" Raichu, the hyperactive one, cheered full of glee while all the others were quiet. "(You sure showed that-)"

"(What's all this fuss about?)" Came a male turtle, accompanied by a female turtle, as they joined the group. "(Hi, Sceptile!)"

"(You!)" The lizard growled as his leaf began to glow green again. "(I'm going to get you for that cheap-shot!)"

"(Umm... it was actually she who did it...)" Ash's Blastoise sweat-dropped and pointed on the female. "(She only did it for your rude behavior against her friend!... isn't that right, Toysi?)"

But he never got an answer, because the turtle known as 'Toysi' had run up to the downed fire-pokemon and knelt at her side.

"(Blaziken! Are you hurt?)"

"(Do you know that hag?)" Sceptile asked with a frown as he turned his eyes onto the turtle.

"(Of course! We have the same mistress, you idiot!)" The female Blastoise cried out as she glared at the lizard. "(Why did you battle her!)"

The lizard just shrugged. "(Unfinished business... does that mean that you know that freak... Gyarados?)"

"(I TOLD YOU! I'M NOT A FREAK!)" The voice of the sea-worm boomed through the air as Sceptile got hit by a powerful jet of water, causing him to fly and land on the ground in front of Torterra.

"(Battle Positions!)" Pikachu roared as he jumped to the side of Sceptile.

Sceptile quickly got up and stood right next to Pikachu; Raichu jumped to the other side of Sceptile, Torterra placed himself at the Raichu; Blastoise did a Rapid Spin and appeared on the left side of Pikachu; Honchkrow appeared on the left side of Sceptile. At the end of all this, they had formed a line and glared at the other pokemon that seemed unsure of what to do.

"(Stop this! What's wrong with you!)" Toysi shouted as she looked around frantically. "(I don't understand any of this!)"

"(I just have to say...)" Blaziken coughed as she stood up on shaky legs. "(You're just like Ash-)"

"(You're not worthy to mention our master's name, bitch!)" Sceptile roared as his leaf began to glow. "(Go back to May!)"

The two Blastoises gasped as they looked at each other.

"(You're really Ash Ketchum's pokemon?)" Toysi asked with huge eyes.

"(I am!)" Blastoise stated with his voice filled with pride, he then got a dark look. "(And since you're May's pokemon... that means we're enemies!)"

Toysi didn't answer, she only looked down sadly towards the ground and walked away from the scene.

"(What's all this fuss about?)" Came a feminine voice as the light-blue fox appeared with her brown rabbit friend/rival.

Buneary got hearts in her eyes as she saw Pikachu standing there in a heroic manner, she took a giant leap towards him with intentions that nobody even dared to guess.

"(Incoming! Northeast!)" Sceptile roared.

"(I got it!)" Blastoise launched a great stream of water from one of his cannons, knocking Buneary unconscious as she fell towards the ground in a powerful crash.

"(See what they did!)" Came a Combusken. "(First, the attacked my beloved Blaziken! And now they attacked a defenseless Buneary!)"

"(Drew's pokemon...)" Pikachu growled under his breath as he remembered how Drew had captured a Torchic a long time ago, just to impress May...

"(HE'S RIGHT!)" Gyarados voice boomed. "(THEY'RE JUST HERE TO RUIN THINGS! I SAY THAT WE DRIVE THEM AWAY FROM HERE!)"

"(Hold on, homies!)" A blue froggish thing, named Croagunk, spoke. "(It's mah boy's wedding! Ya'll need to chill down and-)"

His voice was drowned out by the rest of the pokemon as they glared at the unwelcome guests.

"(Where the hell is Butterfree?)" Sceptile whispered to Pikachu as he didn't let his eyes off the enemies in front of him. "(We could use his Area of Effect attacks here...)"

"(I don't know...)" The rodent seemed to ponder, he couldn't remember the last time he had seen the butterfly, where could he be?

"(ATTACK!)" The sea-worm roared as the pokemon started to rush towards the dark trainer's, electric gym leader's and the Frontier Brain's pokemon...

"(Be ready!)" Pikachu ordered as he saw all of his brothers-in-arms prepare themselves for the unavoidable charge...

* * *

"I'm sorry, I'm late!" Brock shouted as he finally had arrived at the church, that was actually very close to the Rock Gym. "But, I got somewhat delayed by the pokeball machine and-"

"Don't worry, Brock." Holly sighed. "Ash hasn't even appeared yet."

"I knew it..." The breeder sighed and placed himself on the bench. "There was a time when you could trust him, a time when you could-"

"Come on, guys!" The beautiful brunette tried to cheer them up. "I know that it's your big day soon, so don't let his absence get in your way! Let's-"

"Did someone just scratch their fingernails on a blackboard?" Asked a dark voice as a man in brown clothes and Stetson hat appeared from a dark corner in from the church.

"Ash!" Brock shouted in relief as he saw his longtime... friend... stand there with Meowth at his side. "How long have you been here?"

"Long enough to hear Miss. Stuck-up over there..." The dark man smirked towards the brunette. "Eaten any children lately?"

"Ash..." It seemed like May didn't really know what to do, a part of her shook with anger while another part seemed... relieved? "You've... changed."

"Wish I could say the same about you..." Ash lied, but he would do anything to insult someone. "You're still the same, scrawny, loud, irritating, little, kid that I knew three years ago..."

"Well, excuse ME, Mr. Rudeness!" Something in May flared up as it almost started to burn through her eyes and she glared at him. "You think that you're SO great! Don't you!"

"A little, yes." Ash admitted as he glared at the brunette, normal people would've started to tremble and back away from him... but not May.

"I was wrong!" She shouted straight in his face. "You haven't changed at all! You're still that arrogant and childish little boy! And you'll always be!"

"You owe me ten pokedollars, boss." The scratch-cat smirked as he saw the brunette flare up in front of him.

"Yeah, yeah..." The trainer muttered and handed him the money, leaving everybody at the scene dumbfounded.

"But... what... how...?" Was the only thing that came from Brock, and he got quickly silenced by the deadly glare that Ash was, once again, sending to him.

"L... look!" Holly stuttered, trying to break the silence. "Here's the priest!"

An old man came towards them, but he was not dressed in a some kind of white robe, he had a rainbow-colored robe and some kind of silver halo that was perched on top of his head.

"Who's the hippie?" Came a neutral, yet dark, voice behind the breeder.

Brock, May and Holly turned quickly towards him with deadly glares, Ash was unmoved. But the priest just laughed it all off.

"It's okay, my son, you're with friends now." His white beard made him seem extra holy as he walked towards the dark trainer and put a hand on his shoulder. "Your trial is over, it's time to put your past behind you!"

"Please... don't... touch... me..." The uncomfortable voice from Ash Ketchum made Brock Harrison shiver a bit.

"Let us thank the great Arceus for delivering us this day!" The priest suddenly started to preach as he waved the hand that wasn't occupied on Ash's shoulder.

"Great, he's a religious fanatic..." The trainer growled as he glared at the man under his hat. "Can't you people understand? Arceus is a POKEMON, he isn't anymore 'divine' than the rest of us!"

"My child." The priest smiled again. "Lack of faith is everywhere, especially in your heart."

"Boss, I think he found your heart!" Meowth cried out in delight as he quickly looked around, everybody could hear his sarcasm. "Where did you find it, Priest-Twerp?"

"Please, little Meowth, call me 'father'." The old man smiled and knelt down towards the cat.

"Okay, this is just too messed up!" Ash stated as he and his pokemon started to back away from the man. "I don't really know what your intentions are... but we are not interested in some kind of breeding between a pokemon and a human and-"

"Ash!" Brock snapped at him. "Behave! I'm so sorry ,father, he has just been through a lot in his life! But he wouldn't hurt a Beedrill!" The breeder ignored the coughs he heard from Ash and his pokemon.

"Guys! Stop it!" Holly shouted, she had had enough now. "Let's just get the rehearsals started!"

"Indeed, my child." The priest nodded as he raised his arms. "Everybody, please, go to your positions!"

"Positions?" The dark trainer asked with a frown. "What positions?"

"Oh, hasn't Brock explained anything to you yet?" Holly didn't see Brock's frantic waving. "You're going to go in, arm in arm, with May! And we'll come after you!"

"What? No... no, forget it, I won't do it." The trainer backed away, he didn't care how offended the brunette seemed, he just wouldn't do it. "Get someone else, ask Gary! He would do anything for a pretty girl."

"You think May's pretty?" Holly asked with a small smirk.

"No, I'm just saying that you could ask one of the pretty girls that are going to be here to ask him to do it." Ash simply stated as he started his glare at everybody. "I'm not doing it."

"Remember our agreement!" Brock growled towards the trainer, but, once again, he lost the glaring contest.

Meowth had had enough of the arguments; he decided to look around in the church instead.

He walked down the isle, towards the door... but, then he suddenly saw some kind of big, pink, tail-thing. He walked slowly towards it, but then it disappeared!

He frowned as he continued to follow it, and looked behind the bench.

"Oh, it's just you..." The cat growled as he remembered the pokemon. "Wish I could say that it's nice to see you... Skitty."

"Nwyaah!" The pink cat purred as she ran towards the scratch-cat and started to rub her pink head against his body.

"Hey! What are you doing!" The cat demanded. "Boss! A horny kitten is on me!"

He could hear something that sounded like 'If I got a pokecent for every time I had to say that'. But he quickly dismissed it and kept his focus on the mating-crazy female cat that was in front of him.

"What do we have here?" The dark trainer lifted up the pokemon by its tail to inspect it. "As I thought, you still haven't improved its defense yet..."

"Let Skitty down!" May shouted at him as she snatched the cat back. "Why do you have to be so mean to my pokemon?"

"Remember, Brock." Holly whispered to him. "People say that the pokemon is sure to know the feelings for one another before their trainers do..."

"I will kill you where you stand." Was the only sentence they heard from Ash, then they heard an explosion.

"What was that!"

"It sounded like it came from the daycare center!"

They looked around with bewildered looks... but, to their surprise, they could see Ash and Meowth running full speed towards the center.

* * *

"Ash! Wait for us!" Ash growled, he thought that he had managed to lose them as he ran... seemed like he didn't, and now they even had more people!

"Stop! It can be dangerous!" And who was Brock? The world's savior?

The trainer didn't respond to them, he only walked out of the tree-line to see an astounding sight.

The pokemon were all engaged in battle, several of them already lay fainted on the ground while others still kept on charging furiously towards each other.

"This is madness!" Brock cried out in surprise and agony as he saw the pokemon tear up each other and his park. "It's just a big brawl!"

"No." Ash shook his head with a smirk. "See? My pokemon are lined up, they're using the same formation as I thought them!"

The breeder looked over towards his beloved park again, his eyes widened as he saw that Ash was right.

Sceptile, Pikachu, Blastoise, Raichu and Torterra had formed a line around the already fainted Honchkrow, protecting him from any damage as the other pokemon continued to attack them with hate in their eyes.

"Ash! It's mostly your pokemon! Do something!" Brock shouted to the smirking trainer, he could see Ash think for a moment, then nod his head and run towards the place.

"Pikachu!" The trainer shouted, the rodent looked behind him and a look of relief crossed his face as he saw his master come.

"Pika! Pikachu!" The rodent shouted back as he dodged an Ember from a Combusken. "Pikachu, pi-pi!"

"Okay!" The trainer nodded, he then thought for maybe an half second. "Torterra! Use Frenzy Plant to split them! Sceptile, Blastoise, cover Torterra! Raichu and Pikachu, push your line forward!"

The pokemon obeyed his orders, even the pokemon that wasn't his.

Torterra smashed the ground, causing several vines to shoot up from it and smash the approaching pokemons away, and clearing his side.

The earth-turtle was soon joined by Sceptile and Blastoise who covered him while he was recharging by shoot powerful jets of water and smashing into the enemies with Leaf Blade.

And while they did that, Pikachu and Raichu released powerful thunder-attacks towards their side, causing their opponents to either get hit and faint or back away.

They had now created a perfect line and managed to keep their enemies away for a while.

"Meowth, go and support Torterra in the center, I'll take care of the left flank and assist Pikachu." Ash quickly spoke to his pokemon as he found a broom leaning on the fence.

He smashed it against the ground so that the bottom-brush fell off, he then quickly jumped over the fence in one great leap as he swung the makeshift staff over his head and took up position alongside Pikachu.

But, fortunately, several trainers had come and started to recall their pokemon, but some of them had time to taste the power and might of Ash, Pikachu, Blastoise, Sceptile, Raichu and Torterra before being recalled...

"Stop it! Now!" Brock shouted as he climbed over the fence, with some trouble, and ran in front of Ash and his pokemon. "What do you that that you're doing?"

"What does it look like?" Ash asked with a frown as he threw away his stick that had been broken in two. "We're defending ourselves."

"Do you call THIS 'defending yourselves'!"Brock roared furiously as he made a gesture towards his, now ruined, park.

Several pokemon were laying fainted on the ground, some of them were badly hurt while others were just too scared to get up. Trees and rocks had exploded or been torn apart and the river had been widened, the grass was ruined and Blastoise was busy putting out a little fire that had caught on fire from a stray Flamethrower.

"We maybe got a little overboard." Ash shrugged as he took the pokeballs that he had found on the ground and recalled some of his pokemon. "And do you mind to explain how my pokemons' pokeballs ended here?"

"Gee, I don't know..." Brock's voice dripped with fury and sarcasm. "Maybe because the trainers of the poor pokemon were looking for their own pokeballs!"

"Fair enough." The dark trainer shrugged, he then looked around with a frown. "Where's Butterfree?"

"Pika-pi..." The rodent shook his head. "Pikachu!"

"Well, I'm sure that he's coming soon..." Ash seemed to think, then a small smile came on his lips as he watched the field. "Speak of the devil, here he comes!"

"Phreee?" The butterfly asked in confusion as it flew over the torn-apart field.

"Beauuuutiflyy." The other butterfly responded him with an equal confused tone.

"Beautifly! You're okay!" May shrieked in relief as she ran and embraced her pokemon. "And, who's your little friend?"

The two butterflies blushed deep red as they looked down towards the ground, giving May a teasing smirk.

"Oh, I see... who's your trainer?"

"Pika!" The rodent shouted furiously to the butterfly, much to May's confusion. "Pikachu! Pika, PikaPi!"

"Phree?" The Butterfree looked dumbfound as he looked back and forth from his new mate and her mistress towards his trainer. "Butterfreee?"

"Shit..." Ash mumbled under his breath as he watched the scene play in front of him. "Pikachu, don't call him 'traitor', he didn't know... Butterfree, come with me, we need to talk... now!"

The male butterfly followed his retreating master with his head hung down, he was followed by the rodent and the cat who made sure that he wouldn't try to escape.

Is it necessary to say that the place was a big mess when they left...?

* * *

"Butterfree, sit down here for a minute." Ash sat on the hill, along with Pikachu, Meowth, and his butterfly that looked really nervous.

Butterfree lowered himself slowly down next to him, looking at him with unsure eyes.

"Let me get this straight: I'm not mad at you or anything." Ash slowly picked his words. "However, I'm disappointed at you, when we reunited you told me the story about your previous mate, what she did to you, how you were a complete mess..." He sighed. "It's too early for you to involve yourself with another pokemon, you're not ready to be in a relationship... and absolutely not with her pokemon!"

"Phree?"

"I know this because..." Another deep sigh. "I know that I'm not ready for a steady relationship after everything that has happened... so, why would you be?"

The pokemon only had his head low, he even ignored the comforting pets that Pikachu and Meowth were giving him.

"Don't worry, Butterfree." Ash tried to sheer his pokemon up a bit. "I know that it seems tough now, but you'll get used to it, soon you won't even notice it."

"By the way." The frown, that had disappeared on Ash's face, came now back. "They've told me that it will be a wedding with a medieval theme...what kind of idiot decided that?"

"Are you serious/Pika!" Came the voice from the cat and mouse, the butterfly was too depressed to notice. "Why do we need to do that!"

"I don't know... but, one thing do I know; We're not going to dress us up like clowns and make fools out of us, I'll try and look for something normal, don't worry." The trainer tried his best to lighten up the mood of his pokemon, which wasn't easy since Butterfree mourned the loss of his new mate, Meowth was furious at the thought of entering a place with a lot of people; And Pikachu, well, let's say that Pikachu still remembered his costume from the castle-tournament... "Come on, guys, we've been through much worse-"

Ash got quickly up in a second, turned around, and grabbed the approaching figure by the throat and lifted him up.

"State your business here!" The trainer growled at the man..

"Y... you said... that... you were a... mer... mercenary... right...?" The choking man tried to speak.

"That's right, so what?"

"I... I... I have a... job, for you!" He used the last of his air in his last word, but that was all that needed since Ash let him down to the ground, making him gasp for breath.

"I'm listening..." Ash seemed to think. "Just tell me this: Where is it, how many, how do I kill it, and lastly, what do I get for it?"

"I- I'll tell you..." The man seemed to hesitate, but then he started his story.

* * *

Brock felt hungry, it was soon dinner-time and he hadn't got a bite since breakfast... and he thought that he deserved some food for all his hard work, especially the work that involved Ash.

He stopped, he thought he heard some kind of cry, it was best to take a look and make sure that nobody's hurt.

He walked through the bushes and frowned as he saw that the sound came from the forest, he continued to walk towards the huge trees, hesitating slightly before he walked into it.

It was a lot darker in there than it was outside, but he still continued to walk deeper and deeper inside the forest. He felt some kind of inner emotion that told him to turn back, but he just couldn't let that being, that seemed to be in so much pain, suffer... he needed to help it!

He came to a little clearing, there was nothing there but a stone and it seemed like this was where the cry came from. He hurried over to the rock as he saw that some kind of brown object was peaking out from behind it.

He quickly bent down and picked up the little Pidgey that seemed to had fallen off his nest, he lifted it up but, to his immense confusion, its leg was tied to the ground.

He frowned, what kind of evil person would do such a thing against a little Pidgey? He quickly untied it and saw it fly away in a high speed, not even bothering to thank him.

Then, several roots emerged suddenly from the ground around the breeder, tied him up so he was unable to move, and even gave a hard time breathing.

"I'm sorry that it had to end like this, Brock." The dark voice belonging to the dark trainer who had just walked out from the shadows. "I didn't want this to happen."

"A... Ash!" Brock's voice trembled slightly as he looked at the serious face of the man. "What is this! What are you doing?"

"It's nothing personal, Brock." Ash sighed. "It's just business."

The last thing Brock saw was that Meowth handing Ash an old machete... then went all black...

**End of chapter 12**

* * *

**I'm sorry! I know that I'm being addicted to cliffhangers! (that sounded wrong...)**

**I would like to thank the reviewers of the previous chapter for giving me some ideas about Ash's babysitting... and, I would also like to thank Justiez for correcting this extra long one!  
**

**What did you think about this chapter? It would be nice to hear since I tried different aspects (as, should I focus on the pokemon, Brock, Ash, Holly, May, or someone else?)**

**It's better to review later than never and I'll be seeing you in the next chapter!**

**R&R**

**(p/s: If you have a question: Sign in when you ask it, I'll not try and look up non-logged in reviews.)  
**


	13. Chapter 13

**Okay, I'm starting to get sick of apologizing for being so slow to update... but I've actually not had either computer nor Internet, so it has been impossible for me to receive the corrected chapter... but, now, after two weeks, I have a computer and Internet, so here's the next chapter!**

**I've some things in the end of it that I would appreciate if you helped me with...**

**Can't remember anything else to say than this: Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review at the end of it!**

**(Did you really think I was going to kill Brock? Don't worry, I'm not going to finish him off... yet...)**

**R&R!**

* * *

The short sword was raised into the air, and at a high speed it came crashing down on its target... over and over again, the remains of the target flew in every direction, the dark trainer even got some in his eye.

Ash felt that was soon done with his target, and he raised the machete once again and smashed it into the material... causing the vine to fall.

"That was easier than I expected." Ash slowly stated as he looked on at the fainted breeder in front of him. "I didn't even need to knock him out with Pikachu's Thunderbolt!"

"I know, boss." The cat nodded as he inspected the unconscious body in front of him. "And I, who thought that he was at least somewhat brave, would've lasted a little longer than just three seconds!"

"I've to admit that I thought so too." Ash nodded as he walked a little closer to the breeder.

He bent down and grabbed Brock's right arm, he used it to place him in a seating position before he threw him over his shoulder and carried him in a fireman's-grip.

"Well, let's get him turned in so we can collect our payment." Ash smiled a little at the thought of the promised amount of money he would get for the job. "You remember the drop-off, Meowth?"

"Sure thing!" The scratch-cat smirked as he seemed to think a little. "It should be about three blocks south of the Pokemon Center."

"Let's go then." Ash had to admit that it felt good to have something occupying his shoulder, since he had been forced to turn in Pikachu and the rest of his pokemon to the daycare again... with promises that they wouldn't destroy anything.

* * *

"(Hey, Pikachu!)" The lizard, Sceptile, called to the rodent that was seated on the butterfly. "(You see something?)"

"(No, not yet... I'll tell you when I do!)" The rodent called back as he continued to gaze out over the lake. "(Okay, I see them... is Blastoise prepared?)"

Sceptile did some kind of whistling, almost inaudible to their ears, the other pokemon around probably thought that it was just the wind... all except for one of them.

"(Yeah, he's as ready as ever.)" Sceptile nodded to the rodent. "(We're waiting for your command.)"

"(On my mark...)" The little mouse raised his little paw as he counted down on his first finger, then the second, then the third... and then ... "(Fire!)"

* * *

Three pokemon were walking along the little beach at the side of the lake, one of them had a shell and was known as a female Blastoise, the other one was the Blastoise's close friend, Blaziken, and the third was a little fox-like pokemon, Glaceon.

They stopped as they could swear that they had heard something move... they looked towards the edge of the forest and got wide eyed as they saw two jets of water come smashing into them, it wasn't so strong that it would hurt them too badly, it was more the intention of pushing them away so far that they ended up in the water...

"(What the hell!)" Blaziken roared as she quickly emerged from the water's surface and got to dry land. "(Who did that? Don't you know what direct contact with water does to fire-pokemon!)"

"(I think I know who did it...)" The fox growled as she tried her best to get her fur dry after that little stunt. "(You can hear them!)"

True to word, you could hear all of Ash's, Surge's and Paul's pokemon roaring with laughter... or rather... all, but two pokemon, were laughing.

The first one was Butterfree, who didn't see what kind of fun it was to drench passing pokemon in water, and the loss of his mate still nagged him in his heart like a thousands of needles.

The other one was the male Blastoise, at first he had laughed along with the others, but then he saw the look on the female turtle, and that broke his heart greatly, he didn't know why, but he felt really guilty and remorseful for that attack now.

"(Come on, just ignore them.)" Glaceon growled as she glared at the male turtle that had now emerged a little from the bushes and watched the scene with a rather subdued look. "(We're not going to sink as low as them.)"

"(I have to disagree with that!)" Blaziken roared as she was about to charge, only to be stopped by several vines that shot up from the earth by a certain earth-turtle, blocking her way.

"(Blaziken, stop!)" Glaceon snapped at her. "(Remember what our mistress said, we shouldn't fight! And especially not with them!)"

"(Tell that to THEM!)" Blaziken growled once again, but she reluctantly followed the fox-pokemon, thinking of ways to take revenge on the others, as they left the scene.

* * *

"(We got them!)" Echoed Raichu's voice in the forest as he and his companions celebrated their 'victory' over May's pokemon.

"(Was that really necessary?)" Came a rather strained voice from the air. "(They didn't exactly DO anything to us and-)"

"(Shut it, Butterfree!)" Sceptile growled at the little bug. "(Since it was such a long time ago since you were here, let me fill you in on some information: May's pokemon are equal to enemies! That means that we're going to take any chance we got to mess with them, are we clear?)"

"(I still think-)"

"(Are we CLEAR?)" Sceptile interrupted the butterfly once again by raising his voice even more."(We need to stick together since we're alone in this park, we have no friends here besides each other and we're not going to make any new friends, is that clear?)"

"(But-)" The Butterfree halted himself in his sentence once again as he lowered his head. "(Yes.)"

"(Good.)" The lizard nodded his approval as he then looked on at his companions. "(I'm off to get something to eat, anyone wanna come?)"

"(I'm in!)" Raichu quickly got up from his seating position and stood beside Sceptile.

"(Sure, I feel for a snack, or two.)" Honchkrow nodded, his face still held a little disdain for his companions after the stunt they had pulled recently.

The other pokemon agreed with him, except for the two who had not laughed at the "attack", they had lost their apatite...

"(I think I'm going to fly around for a bit, I'll be back later.)" The butterfly mumbled slightly as he hovered away from the scene, getting looks from the other pokemon.

"(I... euhm... I think I will go for a walk, or something.)" The water-turtle hesitated a bit before he walked away slowly.

("I'm getting a bad feeling about Butterfree.)" Sceptile glared at the butterfly that was soon out of sight. "(He has been acting different since we came here.)"

"(We'll keep an eye on him.)" The rodent nodded as he also followed the butterfly. ("I don't think he would do anything stupid, he has been trained in the same way we have, he knows what to do.)"

"(He may have been trained like you... but, is he like you?)" Torterra growled slightly as he looked questioningly at his fellow pokemon.

"(If I tell you he's alright, he's alright!)" Sceptile snapped at the turtle. ("It's like Pikachu said: He won't do anything stupid, not for the moment at least.)"

* * *

"(They think they are so great! Don't they?)" The fire-pokemon growled as she did her best to dry herself up a bit more. "(We're going to get them for that!)"

"(No! Blaziken!)" Glaceon snapped at her friend. "(As much as I want to give them a good beating... we've promised our mistress that we wouldn't fight them!)"

"(And it's not like you would stand any chance against Pikachu!)" The rabbit declared with hearts in her eyes. "(He's so strong, so heroic, so handsome, so... everything!)"

"(Can somebody zip her up, please?)" Glaceon growled, she didn't like when Buneary like that about THAT pokemon. "(It's not like Pikachu will respond to your feelings or anything.)"

"(Oh, yeah?)" The rabbit frowned. "(And who would he like then? You?)"

"(Looks like fire-pokemon aren't the only ones who are red.)" Blaziken whispered it loud enough so everybody would be able to hear.

"(Oh, shut up!)" Glaceon barked as she showed her sharp teeth towards them. "(Why don't you go and get your ass handed to you by Sceptile, again!)"

"(Why, you...)" Blaziken got red...der when she heard those words and the fire on her wrists began to burn even more.

But, the butterfly-looking creature didn't laugh with the others as the verbal fight continued, she only kept looking down towards the ground without saying anything... that was, until she heard something.

"(Pst, Beautifly!)" Her head snapped up as she saw Butterfree, the one she liked, look out from the woods, looking rather happy to see her.

Beautifly looked around nervously, it seemed like the other pokemon were too busy with bickering to notice her, so she slowly hovered away towards her possible-mate.

"(What are you doing here?)" She asked in a discreet whisper as she fluttered around the woods with him.

"(I just wanted to see you again.)" The Butterfree looked quite guilty and looked down towards the ground. "(I... I just couldn't stop and think about you.)"

"(But, if they see us together, they will kill you!)"

"(Then let them kill me! Just as long as I can look one more minute at you, then that's worth my life!)"

"(Oh, Butterfree!)" Beautifly seemed like she was about to faint out of happiness at those words. "(Why can't the others understand? Why can't our love be shown outside? Why do we have to hide 'us'?)"

"(I don't know, my love, but I promise you, we will survive this! And we will be able love each other in whatever form we choose! With, or without, our trainers' blessings!)

"(I love you, Butterfree!)"

"(And I love you, Beautifly.)"

The two butterfly-pokemon started to hover around each other in the air, before they disappeared deeper in to the woods to do things that reaches over M-rating...

* * *

"(Wait up! Toisy, I'm sorry!)" Came the voice of a blue turtle who was swimming after another blue turtle in the big lake that was in the middle of the park. "(I didn't meant to-)"

"(Just, leave me alone!)" You could hear her voice break as she shouted those words towards her pursuer. "(You've done enough damage to me, so leave!)"

"(I won't leave until I've gotten a chance to explain!)" The turtle roared as he dived, Toisy thought that he was gone for the moment... but, then when she had started to relax some he surfaced right in front of her, blocking her path. "(Please, listen to me!)" He roared.

"(I... I...)" The female Blastoise had no idea what to do, one part of her wanted to hit him so hard that he drowned, but another part wanted something completely else. "(Fine, you got two minutes.)"

The male Blastoise took a deep breath before he started to explain.

* * *

The only thing Brock could see was... well, nothing. His eyes had been either poked out or somebody had tied something around his head to prevent him from seeing anything, he couldn't tell.

He knew that he wasn't alone, wherever he was now, he could hear some whispers and some snickering, coughs and some other things.

"Where am I?" He wanted to know as he asked with a loud voice. "What is going on?"

He stiffened up as he felt somebody place their cold hand on his throat, it wasn't so tight that he couldn't breathe, but it really freaked him out.

He tried to move, but it was impossible since he was tied to a chair and was completely immobilized.

He felt those cold hands move up from his throat to the back of his head, they were strong hands and probably belonged to a man, he could feel the hands grip something that seemed to be tied around his head, his neck snapped slightly as he felt the jerk when the sash drop from his eyes. And the light that came after really hurt his eyes...

"SURPRISE!" Was the sound of at least twenty male-voices that echoed through a room that Brock now recognized as the Pewter City's pub.

"What...? How...? When...?" The breeder was dumbfounded as he looked around at the smiling males in the room, that he recognized them as the guests of his wedding. "Shouldn't you be working?"

"The girls decided to give us some free-time so we could do this." Gary smiled as he placed himself at Brock's side and put a hand on his shoulder. "It took days to plan this!"

"To plan what?" Brock ignored his friends fall as he asked the question. "What's going on?"

"It's your bachelor-party!" Conway, who seemed pretty drunk, declared loudly as he swayed back and forth on his chair. "Happy (hick) birthday...!"

"So... you asked Ash to kidnap me and bring me here?" Brock asked with a raised eyebrow as he looked at Gary.

"Well..." Gary chuckled rather nervously as he began to sweat. "We kinda... didn't tell Ash about that, we paid him to kidnap you and... well, you see..."

The breeder looked around in the room, he could then see a dark trainer sit in the corner with a glass filled with some kind of fluid in his hand... and he didn't look too happy.

"Let's forget him!" Kenny stated as he got up from his seat. "It's time to party!"

"You got that right, kid!" Lt. Surge barked as he took another bottle of beer and bit it open before he heaved it down, all at once. "But, something's missing!"

"I'm glad that you said that, Surge." Norman smiled a bit before he walked towards the door. "Come on in, girls!"

Most of the guys went ballistic as they saw five, lightly dressed, and well developed women came into the pub.

Brock eyed the woman, they were not those that you would class as 'cute', and not 'beautiful' either... however, they looked really sexy, and that's probably the category he would put them in.

"Where did you get them?" Brock asked with a raised tone, he didn't like the feeling of having half-naked women dancing around him a few days before his wedding. "Was it Ash?"

"Me?" He could hear a dark voice and saw a frown on the approaching trainer. "I've never paid for a woman, well, not in that way... you can 'thank' Barry for them..."

The breeder looked towards the blond, former, champion that seemed to be having the time of his life, he jumped from girl to girl and only succeeding in really annoying them.

That was, until one of them slapped him really hard in the face, causing him to fly several meters and cry anime-tears before returning to his seat.

"Hey! Girls!" Brock's father, Flint, got the strippers attention as he made a gesture towards the breeder. "Here he is!"

"No, dad, I don't-" Brock stopped himself as he realized that he was still tied to the chair. "Untie me!"

But the guys only laughed at him, even Ash, as the girls began to dance around the tied-up breeder.

* * *

"(Guys, Butterfree has been away for a long time now.)" The small rodent stated as he looked around, they were at the south side of the woods, and they were the only ones here.

"(I know what you mean, Blastoise has been gone a while, too.)" Sceptile nodded as he looked to the woods. "(Do you think that they've been attacked?)"

"(We can't risk anything, right?)" Raichu walked up to them as his cheeks sparked. "(I suggest an all-out attack on them, and the ones who are still conscious will be forced to tell us what they did to them!)"

"(And that's why you're not the leader.)" Torterra simply stated as he walked up to them. "(I say, that we shouldn't bother them, they're probably just looking for something to eat, or training!)"

"(What do you think, Honchkrow?)" Pikachu asked the last pokemon in their party, as the bird sat on a branch in a high tree.

"(If you don't know what they're doing, then you should probably leave them alone.)" He stated. "(Give them some time, the recent experience has been though on all of us... especially for Butterfree.)"

"(We all needed to make sacrifices...)" Sceptile growled as he glared at the bird. "(Why would he be different?)"

"(You just don't get it, do you?)" Honchkrow shook his head sagely before flying away from the scene, leaving the others dumbfound.

"(Well, I'm off to look for Butterfree, who's with me?)" The lizard asked as he got up from his seating position.

"(I'm with you.)" Raichu nodded and placed beside the lizard.

"(Okay Raichu and myself will go looking for Butterfree.)" Sceptile stated as he looked at the smaller rodent. "(Pikachu, can you and Torterra go look for Blastoise? We shouldn't leave them alone out here.)"

"(I get you.)" Pikachu nodded. "(Come on, let's go... and, remember, if anyone of us gets into trouble with 'them'... kick their asses hard!)"

* * *

Brock sighed in relief, it was finally over. He had to give himself credit for not going crazy when those girls were dancing close to him... really close... with little clothes on...very little...

He could now see some of the other males of the group, who appeared really drunk, were dancing with the girls. He could see Gary, Conway, Barry, Nando and... Lucian and Flint? He shivered at the thought of what would happen if their wives found out... but, anything that happens at a bachelor-party, stays at the bachelor-party.

He had finally been untied so he could talk to the other people at the pub, it appeared that they had completely rented the place for this special occasion, the bartender was the only other person there and he seemed pretty happy with how the things turned out.

He saw a table that was where several males sat, so he decided to go up to it and see what was happening over there.

When he approached the table he could see the males there all seemed to be concentrating really hard, and were also looking at a specific target.

"Come on, Meowth, show us your cards." Lt. Surge encouraged the cat. "We don't have all night you know?"

"Fine." The cat smirked as he slowly lowered the cards in front on him. "Straight Ho-Oh, you lost!"

The men around the table began to sigh and groan in agony as they handed Meowth the money... in which a large pile had already formed in front of said pokemon.

"Another game?" The cat asked eagerly, but his eager face was replaced with a frown when he saw his fellow gamblers throw away their cards. "Fine, be that way..."

Rudy shook his head, he had already lost enough money to have enough reason for Misty to kill him with, it didn't look good for him tonight.

He took a sip of his beer and coughed as he felt the alcohol go down his throat.

Lt. Surge started to bark with laughter at the sight.

"Was the taste too strong, sonny?" He laughed. "I won't judge you, I was like that too... when I was ten!"

"Hey! I wasn't prepared for-"

"When I was your age." Lt. Surge completely ignored him and began to tell him a story. "I think I was somewhere around Sinnoh... Anyway, there was a huge party there, and the girls seemed even better looking after a few glasses, so me and a couple of friends had a dare! The one who drank the most would be the winner and would have to ask out one of the most popular girls at the party!"

He stopped himself to make sure of that everyone was following him thus far.

"So, I think I heaved at least twenty bottles of beer, and I would've probably been able to take much more if it hadn't been for the fact that my friends had already fainted and needed to-"

"You call that a story?" Ash smirked as he was seated at his cat's side. "I had to drink twenty-five bottles of beer after my team and I had gotten into an ambush. I had some deadly wounds that hurt like hell, so I just drank and drank hoping that the pain would go away... if I hadn't fainted due to the lack of blood, I would've probably been able to do that a lot more."

"Is that a challenge?" Lt. Surge smirked as he raised himself a little from his chair and glared at the trainer. "Do you think that a youngster, such as yourself, would stand a chance against me?"

"I don't think, I know." Ash responded while lifting himself off his chair. "We can have as many drinks as we want, since 'somebody' forgot to tell me that my 'payment' would be in alcohol..."

"We have a competition, then!" Lt. Surge roared in delight. "Bartender! Keep the beer flowing!"

"I place all my winnings on the boss!" Meowth declared eagerly as he got up and shoved his pile of money to the middle of the table.

"Same here, 200 pokedollars on Ash." Paul nodded as he took forth his wallet and put forward two bills.

"I bet 600 on Surge!" Norman smiled, he knew Surge from a long time ago and knew what he could do.

"20 pokedollars on Ash!" A glass-wearing boy tried to bet, but he was quickly shooed away by the others.

"You're only 16, Max, you're too young to place bets!" Norman scolded him, but then he whispered. "Don't tell Caroline that I did this."

Other people wanted to join the betting, soon there was a pile that reached about 3000 pokedollars in front of them! It was a years salary for a gym leader. However, only 1000 pokedollars in the pile were from the ones who bet on Ash.

"Are we ready?" Even Brock had been pulled into it the betting. "Any last minute bets?"

"I (hick) have one!" A very drunk blond staggered towards the table. "I call the (hick) pile!"

"Umm..." Norman seemed to hesitate as he eyed the former champion. "Barry, you do know that you have to bet at least 3000 pokedollars to do that?"

"Bagatelles!" The champion giggled slightly as he pulled out 7 large bills. "Here's (hick) 3500 pokedollars, on Surge!"

"Should we let him bet?" Brock asked with a frown, he didn't like the fact that Barry would bet so much money if he wasn't sober.

"Lets rephrase that question instead: Is there anyone who doesn't want him to bet?" Ash asked with a smirk, and it grew wider as he saw that everyone shook their heads. "Good, let's get started then."

"Alright!" Brock cleared his throat. "You can't take more than two minutes per bottle, and the one who drinks the highest amount of beer without throwing up or faint wins... are the competitors ready?... GO!"

* * *

"(Now... where is he...?)" Pikachu mumbled more to himself than to Torterra as they walked towards the lake, they had decided to go and look there first. "(Why would he just go and walk away like that?)"

"(Your guess is as good as mine.)" Torterra stated with a calm tone as the ground vibrated for every step he took. "(I just want this thing to be over, so we can go home!)"

"(Home? That has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?)" Pikachu sent him a weak smile as they passed a couple of Pidgeys who were relaxing in the grass.

"(You don't have a home? Everybody does.)" Torterra stated as he stopped and looked at the rodent. "(Right?)"

Pikachu only kept walking, he didn't stop to look at Torterra for a second...

"(Here's the lake.)" The rodent spoke up after a couple of minutes, it seemed like the lake was clear of pokemon and the water surface seemed as calm as ever... only a few, weak, ripples disturbed the surface every now and then. "(Looks like he's not here.)" The rodent sighed.

"(Come on, it's getting late, Pikachu.)" Torterra said. "(We need to check on Sceptile and Raichu, to see if they found Butterfree.

The rodent only nodded and they turned away, disappointed that Blastoise wasn't there...

But, they were wrong, the blue turtle was there, hidden under the water's surface along with a female turtle, refusing to come up. Not long after Pikachu and Torterra were far away did they emerged from the water, and laughed a bit.

"(Now, where were we?)" Ash's Blastoise asked with a perverted smile that caused May's Blastoise to both blush and giggle.

"(I'm sorry, dear.)" Toisy apologized to the male turtle. "(But, I think it's time for us to go, we can't let the others suspect something and-)"

Blastoise sighed. "(It's okay, I know what you're talking about... will I see you again?)"

Toisy only smiled as she nodded her head, she then nuzzled her cheek against Blastoise's, making the turtle both blush and smile as he nuzzled back.

"(Goodbye.)" Toisy whispered to him as she dived back into the water, leaving the male alone to return to land and catch up with his team mates.

* * *

"Impossible!"

"Nothing's is impossible when he's in the picture!"

Nobody really knew who said that nor did anybody care, they were too busy following the competition between Ash Ketchum and Lieutenant Surge.

"Come on, Ash, don't back down!"

"Do it, Surge! Show these youngsters that we're still in the game!"

This was a game that you could call an even match, neither of the opponents seemed to give up nor slow down, they kept eye contact as they chugged down their beers.

"I... I got to give it to you, Ash." Lt. Surge's voice came out in a slur. "You're a worthy challenger... but, you can't stand up to experience!"

"Who says I can't?" Ash smirked, his voice had barely changed as he continued to chug down more alcohol into his body. "My only stop will be for a piss-break."

"You've asked for it!" Lt. Surge burped as he threw his head backwards and finished a full bottle in one gulp. "You don't stand a chance!"

"We'll see!" The dark trainer laughed and finished two beers at the same time as Lt. Surge did one of his.

Everybody had lost count of how many beers they had drunk, but everybody knew that Ash was one short, so, if both stopped at the same time, Lt. Surge would be victorious.

"Come on, let's do this!" Lt. Surge barked once again and got more support from the ones who had bet on him, as he poured down another bottle of beer into his body. "More!"

"Meowth, do you remember when we visited that house, north of Sinnoh?" Ash seemed to have a casual conversation with his cat as he drank. "You remember?"

"Sure, boss." The cat nodded with a slight smirk. "I wonder what happened to those people."

"W... (hick) what people?" Lt. Surge asked curiously as he swayed back and forth in his chair.

"Oh, just a couple of people that... hmm... 'experimented' on each other." Ash smirked as he looked the gym leader straight into his eyes. "They showed us how they could rip out the guts of a living man, how the blood poured out, how he screamed in pain and agony and wanted to die, how they took the bowels out with their bare hands and-"

"Are you trying to scare me, boy?" Lt. Surge roared with laughter and Ash sank back into his chair and continued to drink. "Your stories won't work at me! I know that you made that up yourself!"

"Maybe I did." Ash smirked as he leaned closer to the lieutenant. "But, that doesn't change the fact that you pictured the image in your head... slash, slash, cut, cut, splat..."

That was too much for the lieutenant, his face grew green as he got up from his seat and rushed towards the bathroom and did something that was drowned out by the cheers from the ones who had bet on Ash.

"And the winner is... Ash Ketchum!" Brock shouted in impression, but also so everybody could hear.

"HOLD IT!" Norman shouted, making it quiet in the room. "Ash still needs to drink two more bottles to beat Surge!"

Everybody nodded in agreement, but Meowth seemed a little worried.

"Hey, boss, are you okay?" He whispered to his master. "Can you manage it?"

Meowth was the only one who was so close so he could see the sweat that had formed on the trainer's face as he forced himself to stay conscious.

"I'm fine..." Ash mumbled as he grabbed another bottle. "It's time to finish this!"

Gary watched as Ash tried to drink the last of his required amount of alcohol, then a thought struck him.

"Hey, why did Lt. Surge throw up all of a sudden?" The researcher asked with a frown and ignored the glares he got for trying to interrupt Ash.

"The boss just reminded him of the memories of his career." The cat only shrugged his shoulders as he refused to remove his gaze from his master. "Surge didn't get his rank for nothing, you know."

Ash took a deep breath as he placed down one bottle, he only needed one more and the match was his... but his eyes started to grow more and more heavy with each passing second...

He put a bottle up and ignored the chants from the crowd, he put it to his lips and closed his eyes as he let the liquid flow down his throat, causing a burning sensation as it did so. He wanted to spit it out, but he bravely held it back and finished the whole bottle, he broke it as he smashed it down on the table... his head followed straight after as he fell into a deep sleep.

"The winner of this competition is Ash!" Brock declared quickly as he lowered his arms. "Winners, take your bets!"

The ones who won the competition gathered their money with big smiles, while the ones who lost groaned and some of them mumbled something along the lines of 'she's going to kill me...'.

Brock looked down at the fainted Ash as he snored heavily and seemed to be in deep sleep... Brock figured that out since Meowth tried to slap Ash on the face without any success. Brock gazed at the trainer's head, his hat had fallen off and exposed his long hair... his very long hair, it wouldn't suit the costume that they had chosen for him...

"Meowth..." The cat snapped his head up as he looked at the slightly hesitant breeder.

"What, Old-Twerp?" The scratch-cat asked with a frown.

"Umm... We... need your help!" Brock hastily nodded his head, causing the cat to frown. "You see... ehum... we... we need you to go back to the girls and tell them that we'll be here a little longer than expected!"

"What? Why should I do that?" Meowth asked with a frown as he glared at the breeder.

"Well, it's either that... or, help us clean up and carry these guys back." Brock replied calmly with a smile as he gestured around the room.

Meowth looked around the pub paled. Several bottles were lying around the table where Ash and Surge had competed, many of them broken, there were both male and female clothes on the floor, the girls were long gone, and you could see Barry lying there on the floor, whimpering in his sleep, Meowth remembered that he had drunk one bottle of beer... The cat could count at least four more people who had had passed out, excluding his master.

The cat stopped to think, it was against their code to leave one of their team alone in the hands of others... but, at the same time, he hated to clean up after people...

"I'll do it!" The cat hurried out from the pub and ran towards the gym before Brock retract the offer.

But the breeder only chuckled, he then turned towards the guys who were still somewhat sober, Paul, Gary and Norman.

"Guys, what do you say about giving Ash a haircut?" Brock asked with a wide grin, it was obviously that the alcohol had affected him too.

"I'm in!" Norman, who was the least sober of the group said as he raised his hand, Max had already left a long time ago, not really enjoying the atmosphere in the pub.

"Sure, why not? We're all going to die some day, right?" Gary shrugged his shoulders as he walked towards the breeder.

"I'm in... as long as we get a professional barber to do it." Paul growled as he glared at them. "I won't agree if you're trying to get any of those idiotic hillbilly-drunks to do that."

"Deal! I know a place that's open all night!" Brock chuckled to himself as he, Paul, Gary and Norman took Ash under their arms and lifted him towards the door and out of the pub.

* * *

"(Hey! Guys! Wait up!)" Pikachu and Torterra turned around as they saw the blue turtle approach them. "(I'm sorry I'm late, but I had some things to do and-)"

"(It's okay.)" Pikachu only nodded as they continued to walk. "(We need to find Butterfree too, if we're lucky, Sceptile and Raichu may have already found him.)"

They continued to walk through the woods, making Blastoise slightly uncomfortable since he was a water-type.

"(Hey, isn't that Sceptile?)" Blastoise asked curiously as he looked up.

True to word, there was the green lizard in a tree, probably still scouting for the lost butterfly.

"(Took you long enough.)" The lizard spat at them when he saw them, it seemed like he was pissed off. "(We can't find that stupid little thing!)"

"(Don't worry, I'm sure that he's somewhere around he-)"

"(Look!)" Torterra said in an eager voice. "(I think I see something!)"

* * *

"(Did you hear that?)" Butterfree asked worriedly as he looked around. "(It sounded like someone was shouting.)"

"(Impossible, nobody knows that we're out here.)" Beautifly stated as she hovered around Butterfree. "(And, besides, what could they possibly do to us?)"

Butterfree was about to answer, but then he got a Flamethrower in the face, causing him to smash into a tree with a resounding crash.

"(Butterfree!)" Beautifly shouted in both surprise and fear. "(Are you alright?)"

"(Step away from him, Beautifly!)" The female butterfly recognized Glaceon's voice.

Beautifly looked towards the bushes and saw Glaceon, Blaziken, Buneary and Toisy emerge from it... and they didn't look too happy.

"(Stop!)" The female butterfly shouted as they were closing in on the weakened Butterfree. "(What are you gonna do to him?)"

"(Payback for what they did to us!)" Blaziken growled as her fist began to glow.

"(ATTACK!)" Came a shout followed by one Hydro Pump, two Thunder-attacks and one Energy Ball.

The pokemon had to jump back to dodge the attacks that landed a few meters before Butterfree and exploded, creating a plume of thick black smoke that made it impossible to see through.

When the smoke had died down they could see two rodents, a green lizard and one big earth-turtle, standing in front of the half-fainted butterfly, and if the other pokemon looked angry, then you certainly would need a better word to describe those four...

* * *

"My head..." Ash groaned, he had only been asleep for about two hours... but it felt like two weeks. "Hey, where am I?"

"Now, sit still so we can..." The barber couldn't finish before Ash had sprung up from the chair, grabbing him around the neck, stealing his scissors and hold it against his throat.

"Where the hell am I?" Ash demanded to know as he growled at the old man, who didn't seem that moved by his actions.

"Calm down, son." The barber actually laughed. "Sit down so we can finish the back a little better."

"'Finish the back?" Ash forgot his rage and looked rather dumbfounded. He then took a look in the mirror and was completely shocked with what he saw.

His long hair was gone, the bangs didn't reach down past his eyes anymore... but they weren't completely gone, his hair looked like a shorter version his old hairstyle, the only difference was that it lay on his forehead a little more.

Ash was completely emotionless as he turned around to look at Norman, Brock, Gary and Paul. The effects of the alcohol seemed to have disappeared the moment he turned to look at them and with their sense of judgment coming back in full force, they now realized what they had done. Brock looked nervously towards his companions, you could see the sweat on his face.

"Run?"

His companions nodded eagerly and rushed out of the barber-shop with terrified screams pleadings for Ash to spare their lives.

The dark trainer turned slowly towards the barber, who seemed as calm as ever.

"You needed to finish the back?"

The barber nodded with a warm smile.

Ash responded with a nod as he sat down in the chair once again and handed the barber the scissors.

"Let's do this then."

**End of chapter 13**

* * *

**If you think I forget something, please, tell me.**

**What do you think? I had to agree with a reader of mine, it was kinda disturbing to imagine that Ash with long hair, so, now he got a hair-cut!**

**Now, to the helping part:**

**Since you all know about my '_fantastic_' sense of fashion, I need your help. Please, can you send me tips about what clothings Brock, May and Holly should have on the wedding (remember that it's medieval theme), I've already plans for Ash.**

**I'll soon try and write some of the last, few, chapters in May's Point Of View, although I don't know if I will succeed in it (since I'm a pretty dense guy), but I'll do my best!**

**Quiz Time!: What famous play do the ButterfreexBeautifly-scenes reminds you about? The answer will be published in the next chapter!**

**It's better to review later than never and I'll be seeing you in the next chapter!**

**R&R!  
**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello! Sorry for the long waiting-time, I'll try and turn in the next chapter faster, although I'm not sure when...**

**Anyway, to the answer of the 'hard' quiz: Yeah, it was Rome and Juliet (not that hardest question, heh?)**

**By the way, I would appreciate if those who hasn't voted on the poll will do it, I really want the count to reach over 100 voters.**

**I'm going to stop babbling now, so you can enjoy the chapter, I've listened to your requests and added more pokemon-scenes (although the next chapter will have May's P.O.V in it, it took a little more place than I expected...)**

**Don't forget to review at the end of the chapter!**

**R&R!  
**

* * *

"(Leave, now! Or you'll regret it...)" The little mouse growled as he stood in the middle of the pokemon line that was protecting the semi-conscious butterfly.

"(Should we leave?)" Blaziken asked as she countered the mouse's growl with one of her own. "(You're the ones who came here so you're the ones that are intruding!)"

"(Trust me, if we could leave, we would!)" Sceptile spat his twig in front of the fire-pokemon. "(But, we have our orders to stay here... and that's what we'll do!)"

"(We can solve this in two different ways.)" The earth-turtle, Torterra, stated slowly as he looked at his friends and opponents. "(One, we fight, and cause each other a great deal of pain... or, we leave now and forget that this ever happened... so, what do you say?)"

"(I'll fight!)" Sceptile stated as his leafs began to glow, the bigger rodent nodded as his cheeks began to spark. "(But, we're taking orders from Pikachu, so we will follow his command.)"

"(Same here.)" Blaziken nodded as she glanced at Glaceon. "(What's your choice?)"

The rodent and fox-pokemon glared on each other, at least from Pikachu's side. You could see that the yellow rodent wouldn't hesitate to fight, but the ice-fox seemed to be hesitant on what she should do... she seemed to have been backed into a corner somehow.

"(We'll leave.)" Glaceon simply stated as she began to walk away. "(It's unnecessary for anyone to get seriously hurt.)"

"(Tell that to Butterfree!)" Raichu snapped as he held the body of the now unconscious butterfly in his paws. "(How do you think he'll feel when he wakes up? You attacked him, damn cowards!)"

But his opponents didn't listen to him, they only turned around and walked away.

"(If he would've just left Beautifly alone, it would never have happened!)" Blaziken snapped back at the bigger rodent. "(I suggest that you tell your friend to stop following her!)"

The group of Ash's, Paul's and Surge's pokemon got looks of disbelief on their faces, why did Butterfree ignore Ash's orders? That is... if Blaziken and the others spoke the truth... it could've been them who attacked Butterfree when he was alone, they needed to ask him about that later.

But, now they only walked home with the tired butterfly on Torterra's back, nobody said a word, they were immersed in their own deep thoughts.

* * *

_Next day, at the Harrison's house..._

* * *

Brock looked around nervously as he walked around the house, he had been lucky to have woken up alive, in his opinion... Ash didn't seem to have found him yet, and he hoped that it would continue to be that way until the wedding was over.

Most of the other males were asleep, the girls had let them sleep in the morning since they knew that they were hungover from last night and needed their rest, although the betting and card-games were kept secret to the females.

The breeder frowned, the only two who didn't have an excuse to sleep in late were just Max and Drew, Max hadn't drunk anything since he was only 16 and Drew didn't even come to his party, he couldn't remember what kind of excuse the former coordinator had given his friends.

Brock froze as he saw a cat, that was walking on two legs, coming his way with a big frown on his face... it seemed like he wanted to do, or tell, something to the breeder.

"Hey! Old-Twerp!" Meowth shouted as he ran up to him with an annoyed look. "Where did you and the boss go? I couldn't find you after I had alerted the girls."

"We..." Brock hesitated, then he sighed, it was better to tell him the truth instead of trying to lie himself out of this mess. "We sent you away so we could give Ash a haircut."

The frown deepened on the cat's face. "From a real barber?"

"Y... yes?"

The cat started, to Brock's immense surprise, to laugh loudly.

"Nicely done!" He started to roll around on the floor with tears in his eyes. "I wish I could've seen the boss's face!"

"Not likely..." Brock mumbled as he shivered and remembered the emotionless face that was looking at him. "I just hope that I'll live past the wedding."

"What? No, you're getting it all wrong!" Meowth halted his laughter down as he rub the tears from his eyes."You did him a FAVOR, he hated his long hair, but at the same time he refused to cut it since he never trusted anyone to do so... so, tell me, what did he do when he woke up and found out what you did to him?"

"Well..." The breeder seemed to be lost in his thoughts as he tried to recall what happened. "The first thing he did was to jump from his chair, take the scissors from the barber and hold them against his throat..." The breeder paled along with the cat. "You think he killed him? I haven't seen anything in the newspaper about it!"

"If the boss killed someone, nobody would find that person until next year..." Meowth was starting to walk back and forth. "But, believe it or not, the boss actually knows what's right and what's wrong... he only doesn't want to show it, so, my guess is that he didn't kill the barber...if we're lucky, he might've thanked him instead!"

"I hope you're right..." Brock sighed as he hit himself lightly on the head. "I really do."

They were interrupted by some loud, crashing noises, and words that sent shivers down their spines as they stood in front of the house.

It sounded like it came from upstairs, and they looked up to see the whole floor shake.

Then, suddenly, a window on top floor shattered and you could see something dark brown in color fly out from it. The object in question crashed two meters from the breeder and cat, causing them to jump in surprise. Meowth wasted no time in running towards the dark brown mass.

"Boss! What happened?" He shouted as he shook the half-lifeless body in front of him.

Ash got up on shaky legs as he glared at the window that he had been thrown out from.

"That bloody witch!" He spat as he wiped away some blood from the corner of his mouth. "I'm gonna get her this time!"

With those words he began to walk back towards the door, only to be held back by Meowth and Brock.

"Hold on, Ash!" Brock shouted as he used all his might to hold him in place. "You promised! No fighting!"

"That promise disappeared when she decided to throw a damn vase at my head!" Ash growled as he looked for his hat on the ground, giving Brock a clear view of the trainer.

It seemed true, some blood was running down the side of Ash's head, and he had some cuts and bruises on his body that showed that he had been in a fight.

"I don't get it, Ash." Brock shook his head. "How could you lose to a girl? I thought you were good at fighting, at least what I heard from Suzie and Salvador."

"Believe me, if she only fought fair, I would've kick her psychic ass!" Ash spat out some more blood. "She cheated, I couldn't maintain my aura over my body so she used that opportunity to levitate me and throw me out the window... that witch!"

"Boss, I say that we should wait!" Meowth spoke up after a moment of silence. "Look at you, if you go in there again she'll kill you, take some time to recover first, then we can attack her, all of us!"

Ash seemed to think about his pokemon's words, they made sense, but he really wanted to get revenge on Sabrina for the beating she gave him... even thought it was a miracle that he even survived it.

"Brock! I heard an explosion and-" Holly stopped as her face grew bright red and she looked down towards the ground. "I... I'm sorry, I d... didn't know..."

Ash frowned, then he looked down at his clothes and saw that they were completely torn apart... no wonder why he couldn't find his hat... it didn't exist anymore!

His coat had been ripped to shreds and the only trace of it was that some of it still hung from his right arm, the rest of his upper-body was fully exposed. His long black jeans had been ripped on the right leg and exposed most of his leg when the wind blew, you could also see a clear red line on his leg.

"Oh, Arceus damn it!" Ash cursed as he saw his clothes. "This was my only pair."

"I... I think I should... leave..." Holly's face was still bright red as she hurried away from the scene, trying to suppress the picture of the half-naked Ash from her head.

"Wild night?" Paul smirked as he appeared to the dark trainer and breeder from behind. "Nice hair."

Ash took his fingers through his short-cut hair and smirked a bit. "Yeah, I'll thank you guys for that later."

"No need!" Paul laughed as he responded Ash's smirk with one of his own. "What's up with your clothes?"

"Sabrina." Ash simply stated, causing Paul to raise his eyebrows.

"Her? I don't judge you, she's hot and all... but I thought-"

"Not like that, pyramid-head." Ash growled as he sent a deadly glare towards Paul, which had lost a little of its might since some of his intimidating look had disappeared. "She used her psychic on me."

The Pyramid master got a frown on his face, then the frown turned into a smile as he began to laugh at the dark trainer in front of him.

"You got beaten by a girl?" Paul roared with laughter as he looked at the, now furious, trainer in front of him. "Oh, wait until Surge hears about this!"

"You bloody-" Ash was about to take a step towards Paul, to strangle him, when he suddenly knelt down as he felt a great pain in his right leg. "Arceus dammit!"

"Ash! What's wrong?" Brock quickly knelt down beside the trainer, along with the cat, and looked at him worriedly. "Are you in pain?"

"No, I'm not hurt at all after fighting a psychic and getting thrown out of the second floor of your bloody house!" The trainer spat as he supported himself on Brock's and Paul's, both of whom had stopped laughing, shoulders to lift himself up. "It's only temporary, in an hour or so I'll be able to get my revenge on-"

"No, Ash!" Brock growled as he shook off Ash's hand from his shoulder, causing the trainer to flinch as he felt too much pressure on his leg. "You gave me a promise! You wouldn't insult or fight with the guests! And you couldn't even keep that!... I thought you were a man of your words..."

The next thing that happened took Brock by surprise, Ash actually got a slightly guilty look on his face. The trainer had promised the breeder to not cause any damage to anyone, and he couldn't keep it... and he had always kept his words.

"You're right... I-" It looked like Ash tried to force something out of his mouth. "I'm..."

"You're...?" Brock figured out what he was going to say and decided to help him a bit. "Come on, you can say it."

"I... am... am... sorry..." Ash's voice was so restrained that a normal person would believe he was joking. "I... won't fight... anymore."

"That's good, Ash." Brock nodded. "Looks like there's still hope for you yet!"

"Wait!" Ash suddenly lifted his head up to face the breeder. "Forget that! Let's put it this way instead: I won't fight, as long as someone doesn't start a fight with me!"

"I think I can agree to tha-" Brock stopped himself as he started to glare at Ash. "You can't 'get back' at someone for a thing that happened years ago... they need to pick a fight with you on the spot! Go ahead, say it!"

"Yeah, yeah." Ash mumbled with his head lowered in disappointment... Paul got a flashback from when he was in the kindergarten and one of the teachers was scolding one of the children, he couldn't help thinking how much the scene in front of him reminded him about that.

"Now, let's go, we need to get you patched up... and some new clothes." Brock stated as he remembered Ash's ripped clothes. "I've some things you can borrow."

"From you? Never!" The trainer coughed as he tried release himself from Paul's support. "I'll find something myself and-" Paul and Brock had to catch him as he was about to fall again. "Okay... but this is just temporary!"

"Sure, sure." Brock shook his head as the three males and the cat walked towards the door of his house. "My room is not far from here a-"

"KHYIIAAA!" Was a roar that came from the cat as he launched himself towards the person that was coming through the door, stunning the others.

The person quickly raised her hand and the cat stopped in mid-jump, and was trying to wiggle himself free from the psychic.

"That's enough, Sabrina." Brock sighed. "Let him down, there shall be no more fighting here!"

The psychic looked at the breeder, then at the slightly intimidated Pyramid Master, and then finally at the injured trainer, causing her to smile a creepy smile that sent shivers down Paul's spine.

"Hello, aura-user, how are you doing?" The smile turned into a smirk as she saw the furious look on Ash's face.

"You know damn well how I'm 'doing', witch!" Ash snapped at her, but was still being supported and held back by Brock and Paul. "Let my pokemon down! I swear, as soon as I'm better I'll-"

"Ash!" Brock had no other choice than to hit him on his injured leg, causing the trainer to groan in pain. "No fighting! Is it so hard to understand?"

"She started it!" Ash growled.

The psychic just laughed as she walked away from them. "You've grown weak, aura-user."

"Okay, that's it!" Ash roared right after Meowth had been let down. "Screw that promise! It's time for re... would you stop hitting my damn leg?"

"I'll stop when you're back to your normal self." The breeder explained as he continued to lead Ash through the house.

"This is my 'normal self'" Ash stated with a grim tone as they helped him up the stairs to Brock's room.

"No, it isn't." Meowth shook his head, this needed to stop. "You've never been acting like this, not even when your mother died, or when Second-Twerpette told you-"

"Don't talk about that!" Ash snapped at his pokemon as he glared at him. "That's an order!"

"Yes, '_master'_..." The last word of Meowth's sentence was filled with so much sarcasm that Brock thought Ash would hit him... however, Ash only sighed and let them continue to lead him towards Brock's room.

They entered it and everyone, except for Brock, took a look around.

"That's strange..." Ash commented. "I don't see any Jenny-posters anywhere."

"Very funny, Ash." Brock was actually surprised that Ash, for once, didn't make a very crude or insulting joke. "I told you, I'm not that kind of guy anymore."

"That explains why you're so boring then." Ash nodded and was followed up by laughter from Paul and Meowth.

The breeder simply ignored them as he placed Ash on the bed and started to look through his closet. He shoved away Holly's dresses that seemed to take up most of the closet's space and continued to look in it. He finally found what he was looking for.

He pulled out his head from the wooden 'box' and threw three pieces of clothing at Ash, who caught them and got a very neutral look on his face when he saw what it was.

"You've got to be kidding..." Was the only sound that came from the trainer as he looked at the clothes in his hands.

"It's either that, or go naked." Brock simply stated with his arms crossed.

It looked like Ash was really considering the two options, but then he sighed and removed his ripped pants and shirt, amazingly his boxers had survived the fight. Brock was embarrassedly reminded of his own need for training as he saw the almost-naked Ash in front of him.

Thirty seconds later Ash had put on the clothes Brock had given him, causing the breeder's and cat's eyes to go wide and Paul to frown a bit.

The trainer in front of them looked like a totally new person, as well as looking like something out of the past. He had baggy, light-blue jeans, and a blue hoodie with a white hood and short, black sleeves, it also had a half pokeball logo that was white in color on the front of the hoodie.

"So... what do you think?" The trainer asked hesitantly.

The Pyramid Master only shrugged. "Looks okay, I liked your old ones better."

"Perfect!" The breeder smiled as the memories started to flow back into his head.

"Boss..." Meowth was speechless. "You... you look like a twerp again!"

Ash walked up to a big mirror in the room and got a look of disbelief written all over his face. He then turned to the breeder with a questioning look.

"Brock, do you mind explaining to me what a bigger version of my Hoenn-clothes was doing in your closet?" He tried to sound as calm as possible and tried to hide the awkward tone in his voice.

"Well..." The breeder chuckled, greatly embarrassed. "Um... A few years ago... I was invited to a... ehurm... Look Alike Contest... and, well.. you get the rest of the story!"

Meowth had to clasp his paws on his own mouth to not burst out laughing, Paul didn't bother masking his laughter as he just started laughing loudly. Ash, on the other hand, did not look amused.

"So, you're saying." Ash's leg had recovered enough that he could hobble towards Brock who was backing away slowly. "You're saying that you dressed yourself, at the age of 23, as a twelve year old boy?... Are you sick, or something?"

Both Paul and Meowth were lying on the floor, rolling around as they laughed to the point of choking. Brock had a look of shame on his face, which was kinda strange because it was not such big deal.

"Let's..." Brock tried to find the right words. "Let's... just go down to the others and not talk about it anymore..."

The other males agreed and started to walk down the stairs, and out towards the yard where people were waiting for them.

* * *

"(Oooh, my head...)" Came a sound from a certain butterfly as he found himself waking up with a major headache on some hard surface. "(Where am I?)"

"(Slept well?)" Came the voice from the great earth-turtle, Torterra, below him.

"(Huh?)" Butterfree looked groggily under himself and found out that he had been sleeping on the aforementioned pokemon. "(How... how did I get here?)"

"(That question is not what we're looking for...)" Came the voice from Pikachu as he jumped up on the turtle's shell. "(What we want to know is: What were you doing with May's pokemon?)"

"(Well... I was out for a walk and-)"

"(Cut the Tauros-shit!)" Sceptile snapped at him as he walked up to the side of Torterra and looked at the Butterfly. "(We know what you were doing! You were meeting with that bloody Beautifly!)"

"(No! I... I was-)"

"(I tell you!)" Sceptile continued to bark on. "(Don't you know what you just did? You hanged out with the enemy! They aren't to be trusted! They are just a bunch of lying, cold-hearted, idiotic bi-)"

A really strong wind came and knocked Sceptile away with such force that he smashed into a tree, a few meters away. Everybody turned their eyes on the now bright red and angry Butterfree that seemed to be breathing heavily.

"(Don't... you... EVER... call... her... that!)" Even Sceptile felt a slight shrill of intimidation at the butterfly's voice, some of the others in the team backed slightly away. "(She is more of a person that you ever could be! She's not a liar! She has more heart than any of you guys put together! I... I... love her!)"

"(Butterfree! For crying out loud!)" Pikachu snapped at him as he ran in front of him. "(Don't you see what you're doing? Are you ready to give up PikaPi, us, your family! Just for one of HER pokemon?)"

"(I'm ready to give up a lot more than that!)" The butterfly cried out as it felt its eyes water up a bit. "(If our trainers can't come to an agreement... well, then we'll not belong to either of them!)"

"(Bloody traitor!)" Sceptile had gotten up and spat out his twig in front of Butterfree. "(After all that our master has done for you! After all that we've done for you! You're simply throwing it all away on a pokemon you've known for a few days? You don't deserve to belong to this damn team!)"

"(Fine! I don't even want to belong to it!)" The Butterfree flew away into the woods as quickly as it could, it was hard for some of the pokemon there to follow his movements. "(Just... leave me alone!)"

"(Why you little...)" Sceptile growled as his leaf began to glow as he got ready to charge the butterfly, only to be hindered by Pikachu and Blastoise.

"(No! Remember our rules!)" Pikachu exclaimed as he held back the furious lizard. "(Rule number one: 'Anyone can choose to leave the group at anytime.'!)"

"(He has made up his mind, Sceptile.)" Blastoise sighed. "(The only chance he'll come back to us is if our master accepts their mistress in his heart...)"

"(So long then, Butterfree!)" Raichu stated as he tried to cheer his fellow pokemon up. "(Come on, guys, don't be like that! We've much to look forward to!)"

"(Yeah?)" Sceptile frowned at the rodent's statement. "(What?)"

A long period of silence followed until they heard some kind of flapping noise in the air. First they thought that Butterfree had changed his mind and was about to return, but that thought was quickly dismissed when they saw that it was only one of Paul's pokemon, Honchkrow, who was coming back from his hunt.

"(Greetings, friends.)" He nodded as he landed in front of them. "(Did I missed something?)"

The other pokemon sighed and started to relate what kind had just transpired, Honchkrow's frown deepened with each word that they spoke.

When they had finished him tell the story the bird simply shook his head and looked at the pokemon with a look of disappointment in his eyes.

"(My friends...)" He sighed and looked at them again. "(Can't you see?)"

"(See what?)" The lizard shouted out. "(That we've been abandoned by that little traitor? That we're going to kill him if he ever comes back?)"

"(Don't you get it?)" Honchkrow's frown deepened. "(Think about it: Would you treat the other pokemon the same if it hadn't been for Ash's words against their trainer? Answer honestly!)"

"(We don't know.)" Pikachu simply stated. "(But, that doesn't matter anymore, since we DO know them, and we DO know what their trainer did to our! There's no way in hell that anyone of us will be spending time with those idiotic, naive-lowlifes!)"

"(Alright, guys, this has got to stop.)" The turtle sighed as he walked up to them and looked them in the eyes. "(Seriously, this has gone way over our heads.)"

"(Blastoise, what are you talking about?)" Sceptile asked his close friend with suspicion in his eyes. "(What do you mean?)"

"(Funny story...)" The water-turtle chuckled a little to himself. "(You see... I haven't been totally honest with you...)"

* * *

"So... let me get this straight..." Paul's voice seemed to be really strained as he thought of the news some of the girls had told them. "Due to fact that the majority of the guys have a big hangover, you're saying that you girls will lend us a hand in our work, too?"

"That's right!" Lola smiled as she looked at the Pyramid Master. "By the way, where's Brock?"

"Oh, he's just trying to convince Ash to walk out of the house." Paul snickered at the thought. "Are we the only three guys who are able to work?"

"No, we managed to convince Max and Drew to help out too, isn't that great?" Lola had her face a little bit too close for Paul's liking, making him back away slightly.

"Umm..." Many different scenarios about how Ash and Drew would meet for the first time in years went through his head... and he loved them all. "Yeah, that's great!"

"I know, right!" Lola cried out, Paul thought for a second that she was going to hug him. "Tell them to meet us at the marquee that we've hired for this special occasion, we're going to decorate and prepare it for the wedding!"

"Sure, I'll do that." The Pyramid Master only smirked as he reentered the house in search of Brock, Ash and Meowth.

* * *

You could see several people inside the big, white tent that had been set up at the rear of the house, next to the fence of Brock Harrison's Breeder Farm. Several people were there, you could see May, Holly, Max, Dawn, Paul, Misty, Lola, Rhonda, Zoey, Drew, Solidad, Caroline, Johanna, Sabrina, Erika, Casey, Scott, all of Brock's siblings and Marilyn... some of them working, others not so much.

May, Holly, Misty and Zoey were busy hanging the streamers on the walls of the tent, they had to use a ladder to reach it as it too high up for any of them to reach.

Rhonda, Solidad, Caroline and Johanna were trying to figure out how they should arrange the wine and other alcoholic beverages such that none of the youngsters would be able to get their hands on them.

Max and Casey were busy watching Scott and the youngest of Brock's siblings so they wouldn't interfere or ruin anything that the others had set up, it was rather hard work since the small children decided to crawl away every so often.

Paul looked like he was watching someone too, but it wasn't a youngster, it looked like he was watching a certain blue-haired girl as she, Erika and Sabrina, were busy with arranging the tables and chairs.

And Drew... let's just say that he didn't just sit there doing nothing, but the others wouldn't call his actions of any 'great' help whatsoever.

"I'm telling you, it needs to be put higher!" He declared with a hint of arrogance in his voice. "You can't stand like that, you're doing it all wrong!"

"Well, Drew, if you could only lift your lazy butt off the chair and try to help we wouldn't need to listen to your 'instructions'!" Misty hissed at him with one of her glares that would make any man with a hint of common sense to tremble, and Drew was no exception.

"F.. fine!" He flicked his hair as he took one heavy breath and then rose from his chair. "Why can't you manage without my help or presence?"

"Believe me, we can..." The brunette beauty muttered under her breath as she stood on the ladder and hung one of the ropes over a nail that she had recently hammered in. "You're as lazy as you were before... Isn't that right, Skitty?" She asked her pokemon who stood beside her on the ladder.

"Nywaaa!" The cat purred happily as she rubbed her head against May's bare leg, causing the brunette to giggle a bit.

"I'm sorry I'm late, everybody!" Brock shouted, causing everyone look up from their work. "I got a little held up with-... Ash! Don't you try and walk away, come in here and lend us a hand!"

"Forget it." The mass of people inside the tent heard a harsh voice outside, and it didn't sound too happy. "I'm NOT going in there, I know who is in there, and the answer is: No!"

Brock muttered something to himself; he then made a small gesture towards Paul, making the Pyramid Master walk up to him. Together they walked out, out of sight for anyone in the tent, but they could hear the verbal exchange going on outside.

"Ouch! Bloody hell! Why do you always hit me on the leg, you f-"

"DON'T say that word!" The other voice was interrupted by one the people recognized as Brock's. "There are children in here, and the last thing they need is another lecture from you!"

The people inside the marquee could then hear some kind of scuffle going on, followed by a shout, then they could see someone get pushed through the entrance and into the room.

May, Max, Dawn, Misty, Solidad and Caroline gasped and started breathing a little heavily. It was like an older version of the Ash they once knew stood in front of them. And his Hoenn clothes, that they're familiar with, helped even further to see who it really was. The only different was that he had no hat that hid his now short hair, which all of the girls seemed to love, both young and old.

The other guests were also stunned, they finally got a good look at the man's face for the first time, and most of the women liked the sight they saw.

Drew, on the other hand, got a look of terror over his face as he saw the supposedly 'dead' trainer standing there alive. The trainer himself didn't look too happy... although the expression on Drew's face turned into panic when Ash, after looking around the tent with a frown on his face, caught sight of Drew, a big smirk appeared on his face, along with his cat who stood at the side of his master.

"Alright, people, let's get back to work!" Brock shouted as he waved his hands, getting everyone's attention and causing them to forget about the raven haired trainer for the moment, so he could sneak away unnoticed.

But he couldn't escape the eyes of Brock. The breeder glared at him as he saw him pull out a chair and sat himself in a corner. He looked like he was waiting for someone or something.

The breeder walked towards the trainer with a hard look in his eyes, not stopping until he was right in front of him.

"Can I help you?" Ash only looked at Brock as he glared at him. "Or did you just confuse me with a pretty girl... again..."

"What makes you think…" Brock simply ignored Ash's snide remark and continued with his lecture. "What makes you think, that you can just sit here while the others are working? It makes you look like a slouch!"

"So?"

"'So'?" Brock's face grew red with anger as he leaned closer towards Ash and his voice had a threatening tone to it. "Now you go over and help Paul, or I'll make sure that... that... that..."

The trainer sighed and got up as he looked at the breeder with tired eyes.

"You know, Brock." He couldn't help but laugh a little to himself when he saw the slightly embarrassed breeder. "Someone really needs to teach you how to threaten people..."

With those words he walked towards Paul, who seemed to have removed his eyes from the blue-haired girl and had started with sorting out chairs on the other side of the room.

However, on the way there, something happened.

Ash and Meowth made their way towards the Pyramid Master by walking close to the wall of the marquee, very close. And, out of nowhere, came a pink cat. The pink cat seemed to have slammed into the other cat who was walking on two legs, causing him to cry out in surprise and made his trainer turn around quickly to see what was happening.

But when Ash turned around, he could feel his good leg hit something, some wooden object. He then heard a short, and loud, shriek before he turned around and caught the person who was falling with such amazing reflexes that even some pokemon would've envied.

The whole room went silent as everybody turned around to see the short raven haired raven trainer holding a very beautiful brunette in his arms, who had her arms around his neck, in a bridal-style position, even those who were on the other side of the tent could see the brunette's beat-red face as she looked into the trainers eyes, like she was in some kind of trance.

Any person would've called this a classic 'Sweethearts'-moment'. Unfortunately, the raven haired trainer decided to let go off the brunette, rather abruptly, causing her to fall to the floor on her rear-end, causing her to flinch in slight pain. And the trainer then continued his little journey towards Paul, along with his cat who had broken loose from the other one, who seemed to really enjoy their altercation.

"May! Are you okay?" Dawn cried out as she, followed by Holly, quickly ran up to their friend's side.

"Y... yeah..." The brunette still seemed to be in some sort of trance, she didn't even take notice the slight pain she had in her body from the fall. "What... what luck that he was... there... to catch...me..."

"'Catch me'?" Holly asked with a frown. "May, that guy dropped you on the floor! He's a real jerk!"

"Please, don't say that about Ash..." Dawn muttered silently, more for herself than Holly. "He... he's probably just not feeling so well, or something, right now..."

"'Not feeling so well'!" Holly cried out in anger. "Dawn! How can you defend that jerk, after what he did to May!"

"But, it seems like Max is scolding him anyway!" Dawn declared quickly, causing May to wake up from her trance and quickly look in the direction that the trainer now stood.

True to word, you could see the shorter trainer standing there and shouting at another person who seemed to be about a head taller than him, making the scene rather funny.

Ash just stood there with a neutral face as Max yelled about how he shouldn't 'Disrespect his sister' and so on, causing the dark trainer to yawn every now and then.

"Alright, enough." Ash simply held up a hand in front of Max's face, causing the young trainer to go quiet. "I've heard you, and if you don't shut up soon I'll be forced to fight you... one way or another, so, what's your decision?"

Max's head dropped down, there was no way in hell that he would stand a chance against the former Sinnoh Champion, the young boy simply walked away, leaving the dark trainer to feel quite happy about himself.

The guests, who had seen the outcome, muttered about Ash under their breaths, that he didn't even bother listening to, before they went back to their own chores.

After about five minutes, Ash, Paul and Meowth decided to take a rest. So they simply pulled out three chairs and sat themselves on them, causing them to sigh in relief.

"Well, Ash, let me tell you this." Paul looked up at the trainer with a smirk. "You really know how to make things interesting, wherever you go!"

"You're not that bad yourself, Paul." The trainer simply smirked back as they exchanged nods with each other.

"Hey, you guys remember that time when I came to look for you, and then when we walked to that pub in Orre?" The Pyramid Master waited until the memory had come to the cat and its trainer before they started laughing.

"Y- Yeah!" Meowth actually rolled around in laughter on his chair. "I- I still re- remember that look you h- had when those gu- guys wanted to talk with... you!"

"There were six of them, against two of us, what was I supposed to do?" Paul asked with a frown.

"I told you I got your back." The dark trainer simply smiled at the Pyramid Master, getting one of Paul's own in return. "What do you say that we-"

"Hey! Ketchum!" The trainer got a really neutral look on his face as he turned his head towards the man/blob who had called out to him.

"Drew..." The trainer actually forced a little smile on his face. "People who know me, calls me Ash, people who've heard of me, call me Ketchum. And people who I don't want to meet, well, I don't meet them... so, will you please leave this place, you're blocking the sun."

He ignored the sweat-drops and anime-style falls he got from his very illogical and confusing sentence.

The former coordinator only leaned closer to the trainer, causing Ash to hear his loud and heavy breathing.

"Don't think that I don't know your game, Ketchum." Drew said with a weird smile. "May's mine! And you can't have her!"

"And I thought that I was bad at taking care of my hygiene..." Ash emphasized his statement by waving with his hand in front of his face. "Ever heard of water, that doesn't come with sugar?"

"Why you..." The former coordinator seemed to pause for a good comeback, but when he couldn't find one he decided to go on a direct attack instead. "I see that you haven't any sense in evolving that weak-looking cat, how pitiful that-"

"Hey! Fat-Twerp!" Meowth quickly arose from his chair, causing Drew to back off with a shocked look on his face. "We don't tell you how you should do your business, and since we've promised to not fight anyone here I suggest that you back off!"

The dark trainer looked towards the breeder with a pleading look, but that look turned into disappointment when he saw Brock shake his head.

"Not fight anyone here?" Drew seemed to suddenly regain his cockiness at that as well as a feeling of relief as well. "Well, what a nice deal! What did you get for that? New clothes? A shower?"

The trainer only laughed straight in the ex coordinator's face, making Drew even more angry.

"Well, I can see that your mother didn't teach you any manners, Ketchum, it's a shame that it's too late for that now!" Those people who heard that gasped, since most of them knew Delia, but Ash kept a calm face.

"I'm warning you, Drew, don't go there." Ash still had a calm aura around himself, but Meowth could both see and feel something else.

"Why not? Aww, you're still sore about that thing that happened between us three years ago, aren't you?" Drew asked with a fake-caring voice, causing several people to perk up at his words.

"Drew, I'm warning you-"

"You're still a little grumpy that May chose ME over YOU all those years ago!" Drew laughed straight in his face, some saliva even came flying at Ash. "Well, Ketchum, seems like I've won again!"

Drew waited for an outburst from Ash, or at least a change of expression in his face.

However Ash's face was as relaxed as ever when he said his next sentence.

"Drew, thank you."

With that, he then threw himself at the former coordinator, Drew had just enough time to release his pokemon, before an all out war broke loose.

* * *

"(So, let me get this straight...)" Pikachu tried to talk as slowly as possible. "(You're saying, that after that little battle we had with those pokemon, you've been seeing May's Blastoise? The one called 'Toisy'?)"

"(Pretty much.)" The turtle gulped and looked around nervously. "(I... euhm, I thought it would be a good idea to tell you now, since-)"

"(What the HELL are you talking about?)" Sceptile roared as he pushed the turtle onto the back of its shell. "(After all we've done for you! You decide to stab us in the back too! You're no pokemon of Ash's!)"

"(Come on, guys!)" The turtle wiggled himself up from his lying position and then looked at the other pokemon. "(It's not that big of deal, I mean, we weren't even there when our trainers started to not get along... so why do we need to dislike each other just because they're like that?)"

"(His words do make sense.)" The earth-turtle nodded in liking. "(Was this what you were talking about, Honchkrow?)"

"(It's good to see that someone understands.)" The big bird smiled as he sat high up in his tree. "(The world has had enough of pain and suffering, it needs all the love it can get. I think we can all agree that it's just plain ridiculous that you shouldn't be able to love someone since Ash a-)"

His next words was a cry of pain as a yellow light surrounded and engulfed him, courtesy of a really pissed of rodent.

"(Shut up! I won't let you question PikaPi's judgement!)" The mouse growled in anger as the Thunderbolt that he sent slowly started to fade away. Causing the bird to almost fall off his tree. "(He's a better person that any of you'll ever be!)"

"(I bloody agree!)" The lizard stated as he placed himself at the side of the rodent. "(You've nothing to say about this, Honchkrow, if you haven't traveled with him for so long.)"

"(Even though I haven't traveled with Ash, I agree with Pikachu and Sceptile.)" Raichu nodded and placed himself at the other side of Pikachu. "(You've no right to say what's right and what's wrong in this matter!)"

"(Don't make fools out of yourselves!)" Torterra warned them as Blastoise lifted up the weak Honchkrow and put him on the earth-turtle's shell. "(We've had enough of the division in this group, and I would like to see that we won't have to anymore!)"

"(That's something you should've thought about before you took sides!)" Sceptile spat out his twig in front of the other pokemon. "(It's your mistake, not ours, I suggest that you leave... right now!)"

"(Come on, let's find Butterfree.)" Blastoise mumbled as he walked away from the scene. "(We need to let him know that he still has friends here, even if it doesn't seem that way...)"

So, that's where the group split up. Torterra, Honchkrow and Blastoise went looking for Butterfree, while Pikachu, Raichu and Sceptile refused to have anything to do with the 'traitors' and continued to sit there and try to figure out a plan on how to get their 'enemies'.

**End of Chapter 14**

* * *

**Well... what do you think?**

**I would like to thank the ones who helped me through their reviews with how the characters are going to be dressed for the wedding... although I still need some ideas for Brock, try and picture him as a groom in a wedding with medieval theme and tell me what kind of clothes he's going to have!**

**What do you guys say about that we break the 400-limit in reviews?**

**I might get complains about Drew-bashing... and I know that I should've warned you before, but I simply forgot it. And, if you don't like it, I'm not forcing you to read the chapter (except a few people...)**

**Well, the only thing that's left to say is: It's better to review later than never and I'll be seeing you in the next chapter!**

**R&R!  
**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello! Long time no seen... sorry about that. But I've made it up to you by giving you this extra long chapter!**

**Before we start, there's a few things I want to have said:**

**1. Please, check the end-notes at the end of the chapter, I think you'd be interested in what it says.**

**2. All girls and woman have to forgive me for half this chapter! I've no intention of making fools out of you, I just doesn't know what really happens... so, please, read and forgive!**

**I would like, as usual, thank Justicez for taking his time looking over this chapter!**

**You did good on the poll. Now, what do you say about we break the 500-reviews-line!**

**Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review at the end of it!**

**R&R!  
**

* * *

The pokeball opened with a bright flash and revealed a pokemon that looked rather like Meowth, although it was a lot bigger and had a ruby on its head instead of a charm, the pokemon also had a slightly gold-ish tinge to its fur.

The whole room gasped in awe as they saw a golden Persian land on the ground with a graceful spin, before looking at its pre-evolution sinisterly.

Meowth had a blank look in his eyes, at the second Ash jumped Drew he had prepared himself for whatever would've come out from that pokeball, but he didn't expect this.

The cat's mind was filled with past memories, memories of how he always had stood in the shadow of that pokemon, how people always admired that pokemon due to its graceful movements and beautiful accessory... and the sound of peoples' gasps didn't help one bit.

That scratch-cat's eyes darkened in fury as he let out a roar that would've seemed impossible for one of his size. He extended his claws to the fullest and ignored the spectators gasps when he showed his shining claws at his opponent. He then threw himself towards the pokemon with a furious roar, intimidating it, before the whole thing erupted into one enormous brawl.

* * *

"_It's like beating up a damn pillow!_" Ash thought darkly as he threw another punch into the former coordinator's stomach, causing said "pillow" to suck in his breath, and feel his fist somehow being drawn into the mass. "_How's this even possible?_"

He looked up and saw the coordinator's sweaty face, though he could see that the sweat was mostly from fear and not pain. Ash couldn't cause him any greater pain by punching him in the stomach, which was a perfect way to cause damage without any visible marks. And even he understood that he couldn't go loose on the coordinator's face since there were a lot of young children about.

He sighed, making people think that he was about to stop, before he gathered all his strength and got a determined look on his face.

* * *

The people who had come to watch the fight would've swore on that they saw some kind of light surround the trainer's fist right before it made contact with the overweight coordinator's face, causing him to grunt and fall back with a loud thud.

"Sabrina!" Brock cried out in desperation as he saw Drew land on two chairs, crushing them easily beneath his weight. "Stop them!"

The breeder jumped slightly as the psychic appeared next to him with a mysterious smile.

"No, Brock Harrison." She simply said as they continued to watch the battle. "He needs this, let him be."

"What do you mean by-" The breeder was interrupted by a loud cry, causing him to snap his head towards the source of the sound and see a smaller cat fly into the wall of the tent, making a hole in it, before getting back up and running back into the fight again. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

Sabrina didn't answer him, she only directed her gaze at the aura-user, whom had his attention focused on the two fighting cats.

* * *

Ash couldn't believe his eyes, how could his pokemon get beaten by that Persian? What was wrong, he could easily tell that his pokemon were the stronger and more experienced.

Then the thought struck him.

"Meowth!" He roared, gaining the cat's attention as he stopped his charge and dodged his opponent's claw. "Fight with your heart! Not your rage!"

"You got it, boss!" A wild smirk appeared on the cat's face as he started to make some kind of gurgling noise, and then launch a great jet of water out from his mouth, smashing straight into the Persian's body.

* * *

"Sabrina!" Brock shook the psychic master once more, causing her to turn her attention away from the battle and look at the breeder with a neutral look. "Drew's already fainted! Stop the battle!"

"Meowth needs this too, Brock Harrison." She simply stated and was about to turn her head back to the battle, only to be stopped by Brock.

"If you won't do anything, I will!" He declared bravely and was about to enter the foray, only to feel his body stiffen up and see Sabrina's eyes glow red.

"Don't be a fool, breeder." He could swear that her voice had changed to a much darker one. "You'll get seriously hurt, if you're lucky. I highly recommend that you let them wear each other out... not even my powers can match the anger that those two are radiating."

Brock only gulped and turned his head back to the battle, which seemed to have completely wrecked the marquee.

* * *

Ash simply stood there with arms crossed, refusing to shout any commands to his pokemon, while Meowth dodged and strike his opponent with a small, yet determined smile on his face.

The Persian started to feel all worn out, his master had told him when he bought him that he would sometimes fight strong pokemon, but not one like this! All they came for was so he could meet that Skitty... but he made a fool out of himself as she was watching the battle with hearts in her eyes, but her gaze was not directed at him...

He growled and dodged another Slash-attack that came towards him, only to be hit by his opponents other paw.

The blow came straight on his head, making him feel like something had shattered.

He got a confused look on his face when he heard some people laugh and others gasp, so he felt his head with his paw... it was gone! The red ruby on his head was gone! His pride, his everything was gone!... and its all that little cat's fault!

The people began to back away when they saw the larger cat roar as the whole room seemed to darken and the cat's body turn a shade of red. The large cat opened its mouth and revealed to the spectators a, small, orange orb that seemed to be forming in its jaw. However, the crowd's feelings turned to panic when they saw the orb enlarge, and finally, shoot out in a spiral worthy of any coordinator's pokemon.

The orange spiral, which was a super concentrated Hyper Beam, circled around the room, growing bigger and bigger with each second that passed.

People began to run, Drew woke up and rushed out of the tent at a quick pace (well, as quick as someone of his weight could "run" anyway), Brock quickly ran up to his and Holly's family to do what he could to protect them, but the beam suddenly changed direction towards them and they closed their eyes as they prepared for impact.

However, when they opened their eyes again after a moment they could see that they were surrounded by that orange light, but they were in some kind of invisible orb that protected them from any damage.

Brock sighed in relief, and confusion, as he looked around.

He could see his, and Holly's, families standing in there, he could also see that Paul had thrown himself over Scott and Dawn, pushing them inside the orb to protect them as they had stood there, immobilized by shock.

Casey, Misty, Zoey and Erika seemed to have managed to get inside the orb too as they looked around in confusion, albeit a little frightened.

The breeder continued to look around and could see a few people whom he identified as some of Holly's guests that he had only met in passing. He started to wonder who could've been their rescue when he saw it.

A woman with dark green hair and red clothes stood in the middle of the orb, levitating slightly. Her formerly blue eyes had turned red, her long hair blew as in a breeze as she held out her arms to keep the barrier up.

The breeder sighed and sent Sabrina a look of gratitude, she caught it and nodded shortly before she continued to focus her powers to keep up the shield.

But, everyone wasn't as calm; a short, glass-wearing boy of about sixteen looked around frantically in the bubble, when he made eye contact with Brock he suddenly shouted:

"Where's my sister?"

The breeder was about to respond to the question when Sabrina interrupted.

"I can feel May Maple outside the shield, I can't however feel if she's undamaged..."

The young trainer's face paled as he looked at the psychic master.

"You have to let me out of this! I need to save her!"

"Don't be a fool!" Sabrina snapped at him, causing him to back away slightly. "There's nothing you can do, if I lower the shield we'll all be killed!"

The young trainer fell down to his knees and actually began to weep, his only sister was out there in a raging inferno that could kill anyone, and he couldn't do a thing to help her!

After a while the storm died down and Sabrina lowered the shield, almost everyone inside the bubble groaned.

There was thick smoke everywhere with visibility at less than three meters, and they could see that everything around them was a complete mess. They were relieved that no one was hurt… that was until the smoke completely cleared from the vicinity.

"May!"

* * *

_A few__ minutes earlier..._

* * *

The little, pink, cat could only watch in panic as the Hyper Beam went beyond the controllable region. She could see people begin to run, most of them made their way outside the large tent to safety, however, she could see about fifteen people that had been trapped inside the attack. Skitty meowed as she wanted her trainer to go towards the safe orb that the psychic girl had created, it was very easy for a pokemon to see that.

But her mistress only stood there ... or rather lay there, she had been smacked away by an unknown person as he, or she, made his/her way out of the tent, leaving the brunette there slightly stunned from the impact with the ground.

The cat shrieked for help, but nobody heard her and she could see the orange light come closer and closer, she decided to run for help, maybe convince the psychic girl to make the orb a little larger so it could cover her master too.

She started to run, but halted and got a terrified look on her cute little face as she saw that she had run straight into a dead-end, and the Hyper Beam was almost upon her.

The pink cat closed her eyes and waited for the end… but the end didn't come.

She felt something hard collide with her and she was thrown out of the way, back to her mistress. When she opened her eyes she could see a cat, with a golden charm on his head, covering her with his body, making sure that he would take the blast if it came.

Skitty was of course grateful for her savior, but who would save her mistress, who chose that moment to shake herself out of her stupor.

May's eyes stirred open, she couldn't remember the marquee being this bright... she let out a shriek of terror as she saw the Hyper Beam approach her at a dangerously fast speed.

But, she didn't close her eyes, even if she could see her whole life pass in front of her, her eyes refused to be closed.

She could feel someone grab her hips, pushing her down to the floor and then a shadow cover her body, and then some kind of blue light... wait a minute...

May looked up slowly, she could see a pair of black shoes, and then she came to a pair of light-blue jeans, and after that came some sort of a blue hoodie, and after that came a really handsome face which was currently concentrating on maintaining the blue light.

"Ash?" May's eyes were wide open as she looked at the trainer, the same trainer that had dropped her straight on the floor ten minutes ago, now standing there and using all his strength to save her and her pokemon's life.

The dark trainer had his arms outstretched and his eyes clenched as he was mumbling some kind of chant as a light-blue orb was pulsing in each of his hands, as they stretched out and formed a shield around them.

"A-Ash?" May tried again to gain his attention. "What is this... Ash?"

"Quiet, Second-Twerpette!" Meowth hissed at her as he lay under her, with the pink cat under him. "The boss needs his focus now, you can't interrupt him, if not we'll die!"

"B-but..." May was dumbfounded, but she felt her heart warm and flutter. "Why is he doing this?"

Meowth opened his mouth, but closed it when he couldn't come up with a reply.

"Don't ask questions, Second-Twerpette. I'm not here to answer them and you're not here to hear the answers."

"I see..." May decided that it was best to close her eyes and just let Ash do whatever he was doing.

She closed her eyes and crawled into a fetal position and hugged the two pokemon, she was surprised to feel that Meowth didn't try protesting or try wriggling himself free. The bright orange light, mixed with blue, burned her eyes as she clenched them even tighter, causing Skitty to yelp slightly in pain as the beautiful coordinator was hugging her even tighter.

Seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours before it was all over, May still had her eyes closed, but she could both feel and hear that the noise had died down and-

"May!" She opened her eyes and felt her heart jump in her chest as she saw that her little brother had gotten away unharmed. "You're alive!"

"Of course I am, Max!" May laughed as she ran up to hug her little brother, who held her tight. "And it's all thanks to-... Ash?"

Everybody inside the tent turned towards the spot where May had lied down. The only thing that was there was a tall man with dark hair, panting heavily as he lay on his back, trying to regain his breath, while two cats stood by his side and tried to check if he was alright.

"Hey! Boss! C'mon, don't do this!" Meowth shouted as he shook the man's head. "You swore that you wouldn't do that! Did you forget that it could kill you?"

The crowd only heard a mumbling response, then they saw a purple-haired Pyramid Master run up to the trainer and helped him up before supporting him on his shoulder, along with Max and the breeder, and taking him out of the tent.

The females, and Meowth, were left there stunned, what had just happened?

"Umm, May? Are you alright?" Dawn finally got the sense to speak up, breaking the thoughtful silence.

"What? Oh, yeah... I think so..." Said that stunned brunette as her eyes didn't leave the tent opening.

"That was... interesting?" Holly decided to speak next as she looked at the other girls. "What... what really happened?"

"Well, I-"

May's voice was interrupted by a loud smashing sound causing every person in the room to look towards the middle of the tent.

The big, golden, Persian was sent flying to the other side of the marquee, going straight through its walls with a weak cry, and then disappeared through the other side.

"Now, that's taken care of!" Meowth announced happily as he wiped his paws."Hey! Where did the boss go?"

"Meowth!" All the girls cried out, for different reasons. "What in Mew's name happened here?"

"Oh, ehum..." The cat tried to think of a logical explanation, but before he could think of one… something else happened.

"Nywaaah!" The other cat, Skitty, cried out in delight as she threw herself onto Meowth, wanting to thank him for saving her.

"Gah!" The scratch-cat cried out in surprise as he was knocked to the floor, he raised his paw, ready to strike her, but then lowered it again. "Skitty? What are you doing? Oh..."

A faint shade of red appeared on the male cat's cheek as he slowly started to stroke his paw along the other pokemon's head, causing her to purr in happiness.

"MEOWTH!" The girls shouted, making him jump at least one meter up in the air before directing his attention towards them with a bright-red face.

"What?" He asked in annoyance all the while shooting nervous looks at Skitty.

"How did Ash survive outside the psychic bubble, and still protect May and you?" Dawn demanded as she waved her pointer-finger. "And what did you mean when you said: 'You swore that you wouldn't do that'?"

"Oh, well..." Meowth tried to find a believable lie, but then he gave up. "Hey! Why not ask Witch-Twerpette? She knows the real explanation!"

The group turned around to ask Sabrina, but she was gone...

"Where did she go?"

"Who knows, she comes and goes whenever she wants..."

"Tell us, Meowth!"

"Alright, but no more questions after this!" The cat stated as he sat down with his legs crossed and the other cat snuggled into his side. "It's quite simple, the boss used something that I would like to call an 'Aura Shield."

"WHAT?" It didn't help that Meowth's voice was calm, like it wasn't a big deal at all. "The only time I saw something like that was when we were at Iron Island with Riley!"

Meowth looked a bit at Dawn. "Yes, but he was a real Aura Guardian, the boss thinks that's a waste of time."

"Please, Meowth, continue, why didn't you want Ash to use that shield?"

The cat took a deep breath; he looked really concerned right now. "Well, you see, that requires a lot of energy... life energy, the kind of energy that we live off... I don't know anymore about this than you do, all that I know is that if a person who isn't trained as a Guardian from his childhood uses it... it can be really dangerous and that person can lose all of his life-energy."

The whole room went silent after the cat's word, who would've thought that Ash had so much problems? And yet have so much power!

"Well, now that that's out of the way, I'm going to-"

"Meowth! Wait!" Meowth stopped in his track at the sound of May's voice and slowly turned around, she was standing there with Skitty in her arms.

"Yes?"

"Why... why did Ash risk his life to save me?" She demanded to know, her eyes were glimmering for some reason as she hugged her pokemon a little too hard for its liking.

"I told you, no questions... May..." Meowth smiled a bit as he continued on his way out of the tent.

* * *

"(Well, this sucks.)" The big rodent declared after a moment of silence.

"(Tell me about it, it just isn't the same without the whole group.)" Pikachu nodded as he munched on his apple. "(I only wish we could... I don't know)" He sighed.

"(Oh, stop whining!)" Sceptile spat at them as he stood guard. "(They made the choice to betray our master, and they will not be so easily welcomed back, not even if they crawl on their pathetic legs and-)"

"(What about those who haven't any legs?)" Raichu piped in, slightly confused. "(I mean, it will be a problem, for example Butterfree, to crawl back when-)"

"(SHUT UP!)" Was the collective sound of Pikachu and Sceptile as they roared at the bigger rodent, causing him to turn his back and mutter to himself. "(We need to come up with a plan, our master's honor shall not be disgraced!)"

"(I couldn't agree more, Sceptile... any ideas?)" Pikachu asked in a low voice, suspecting other pokemon were eavesdropping on them.

"(I think I know what-)"

"(Guys! Have you heard! A figh-)" The little Rattata halted in both his words and tracks as he saw who he was talking to. "(Umm... never mind, carry on!)"

"(Hold it!)" Sceptile roared as he took a giant leap towards the retreating rat, blocking his way and stepping on his tail. "(You mentioned a fight? Where, and how many!)" It was not a question, it was a demand.

"(I- I do- don't kn- know wh-wha-what you're... talking a-about!)" The little rat stuttered as he tried to free his tail and run away. "(I- it's o-only a r-r-rumor!)"

"(What rumor? Stop that stuttering and speak up!)" Sceptile roared as one of his leafs began to glow, making the rat even more terrified.

"(A-Alright!)" Rattata cried out. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. "(As I said before, they're only rumors, they haven't been confirmed an-)"

"(Speak! You bloody coward!)" Sceptile roared as he put more pressure on his right foot, which was crushing the rat's tail, causing the rat whimper in pain.

"(O-Okay!)" The rat cried. "(They're saying that it was a tumult at the Harrison's backyard! That the fat human was fighting the aura-user, and the whole place has been ripped apart!)"

"(What else? Speak!)" Now it was Pikachu's turn to threaten as he and Raichu walked up to the rat.

"(I don't know anything else! I swear!)" The Rattata began to whimper again as he looked down at the ground. "(Please, I have a family!)"

"(Liar...)" The lizard growled with a twig in his mouth. "(Leave, now! You're sicken me!)"

The rat nodded, and as soon as Sceptile lifted his foot from the rat's tail it ran deep into the woods.

"(Okay, what are we gonna do?)" Raichu asked, slightly nervous.

"(What do you mean? It's pretty clear to me.)" Pikachu stated as his cheek sparked. "(We're going to go in there, kick some ass, help PikaPi and Meowth... and kill Drew!)"

"(Geez... What has that Drew-guy done to you, I know that you hate him... but why?)" Raichu's voice was filled with hesitation as he asked them, and he took a step back when they glared at him.

"(Don't ask, you don't want to know...)" The lizard growled. "(Pikachu's right, we need to aid our master!)"

The three pokemon nodded towards each other before they started to run, Pikachu and Raichu on all fours as Sceptile jumped through the trees.

After a couple of minutes they got out from the forest and to the fence that was parallel with the Harrison's backyard. However, they weren't alone.

At least three lines of different pokemon were standing along the fence, waiting for Pikachu, Sceptile and Raichu, and they didn't seem too happy.

"(What the bloody hell is going on?)" Sceptile roared as he looked at his new opponents. "(Make way, or I'll kill you all myself!)"

"(Sceptile! Calm down!)" It was none other than Blaziken who looking at him with a glare. "(We got orders from our trainers to not leave the park! I don't want to fight you.)"

"(You... you don't?)" Sceptile asked baffled as he looked at the fire-pokemon with an empty look, but he shook himself. "(I see... you planned this all along, didn't you? First, you split up our team, making us weak! Second, you send out that little, pathetic, creep!)" He glared at the Rattata that was hiding behind the lines. "(To get our attention! And now, when we're not at full strength, you attack us!)"

"(Listen! You stupid lizard!)" Glaceon roared in anger as she barked a little. "(We're NOT fighting you! We simply don't want you to ignore our trainers orders!)"

"(And what about our friends?)" Pikachu piped in, taking up a place beside Sceptile. "(Did you attack them as soon as they had let their guard down?)"

"(No, they didn't!)" Pikachu, Sceptile and Raichu turned their heads towards the sound of the butterfly's voice, he was standing there with the rest of their former brothers-in-arms. "(Please, Sceptile, Raichu, Pikachu, try to understand, we don't want to fight you!)"

"(This is getting slightly problematic...)" Pikachu whispered to Sceptile. "(We could've managed taking down the other pokemon... but Blastoise, Torterra, Honchkrow and Butterfree will be a problem, since some of them are at the same level as us...)"

"(I know... let's attack while we still have the element of surprise!)"

"(Raichu, shut the hell up!)"

The bigger rodent only blew raspberry at Sceptile, before he directed his attention towards their opponents with sparking cheeks.

"(Aw, come on, homies!)" The bluish frog, Croagunk, walked out of the line. "(As I said before: It's mah boy's wedding! He'll need ya'll to chill and-)"

"(Oh, run back to the swamp!)" Pikachu spat at him, he then diverted his gaze towards one of the leaders of the group with sparking cheeks. But they stopped sparking when he saw a slight tearful look in Glaceon's eyes as she had heard him... could she really be? Nah, she's probably faking. "(We'll settle this, here and now!)"

Some of the younger and newer pokemon, who hadn't learned the word 'discipline', roared in anger and started to charge the two rodents and lizard.

Pikachu and Raichu got dark looks in their eyes, filled with hate, as the electricity began to surround them. Sceptile had already taken a giant leap into the air, planning to strike at his opponents from afar.

"(Here they come!)" Pikachu cried out as he was about to launch a Thunderbolt.

But, before he could do that, two giant winds came and swept the pokemon on the right flank away, two giant roots then emerged from the ground and cleared away the left flank, and a powerful jet of water smashed away the opponents in the middle.

Pikachu, along with Sceptile, ignored the screams of pain from their opponents and only looked blankly at the four emerging pokemon.

The four pokemon in question split up and stood by the Pikachu, Raichu and Sceptile.

"(Why?)" Pikachu asked after a moment at his former brothers-in-arms.

"(Do you really think that we would be able to live with ourselves if we fought you and maybe put our master in danger?)" Blastoise asked with a frown. ("We may love some of the pokemon on the other side... but we sure as hell don't love them all!)"

"(This has been going on for too long, it's time to finish this.)" The little butterfly simply stated as he glared at the other Butterfree on the other side of the field.

"(Sceptile? What do you think?)" Pikachu asked with a slight frown as he looked at the lizard, who hadn't shifted his gaze from Blastoise. "(Will we let them fight alongside us?)"

The green lizard let out a short grunt, then he thought for a moment before he looked at Pikachu. "(Words may change, promises can be broken... but, in the heat of battle, a pokemon's true side is always shown... welcome back, friends!)"

The pokemon on his side of the line let out a great roar, both to scare their opponents and to psyche themselves for the fight, both of which seemed to be working.

"(For our master's honor!)" Sceptile roared with a mighty voice as the leaves of his arms began to glow bright green, he then charged towards the line of enemy pokemon, who took a step back.

"(For PikaPiiiiii)" Pikachu cried out as he started to move faster and faster, as a yellow aura surrounded him.

Butterfree and Blastoise gave each other a look, then they looked towards their opponents and saw that their mates had slowly moved away from the battle. They looked back at each other and smiled with wild smirks, then they let out loud roars and started to charge along with their friends.

"STOP! We need them! That's an order!"

* * *

_About an hour earlier..._

* * *

"Ash? How are you feeling?"

"Yeah, c'mon, boss... wake up!"

"Next one who says anything will have a boot to his mouth..." Ash muttered as he slowly lifted himself up into a sitting-position on the table. "My head... what happened?"

"Your head hurts, boss?" Meowth asked rather worriedly.

"Yeah... but not that bad." Ash answered sheepishly.

"Good..." Meowth smacked him hard on the back of his head, causing the dark trainer to flinch.

"Bloody hell!" He shouted and rubbed his head as he glared at his pokemon. "Why the hell did you do that for?"

"You said that you wouldn't use your aura, boss!" Meowth barked at him, making the trainer get a slightly guilty look on his face. "You know that shit will kill you some day! Do you think I would survive after I told the rest of the guys what had happened to ya? They would skin me alive!"

"Well, I'm alive now... aren't I?" Ash asked with a frown as he got up. "I think I've actually made a full recovery, so, what's up now?"

"Well, Ash..." Brock looked rather worriedly at Max and Paul, who had stood off to the side of the room. "We don't know ye-"

"Brock!" Holly came running into the room, panting slightly. "Come! Quick! It's horrible!"

Even Ash got down quickly from the table and started to run in the direction that Holly had come from, the Harrisons' backyard.

* * *

Brock's eyes widened as he saw the destruction that had happened inside the tent, every chair had been broken, things were laying everywhere as though a hurricane had blown through the area.

"Oh no!" Brock got down on his knees. "Why? Why!"

"Aren't you exaggerating a little?" Ash walked up to him and poked him with his foot as he lied there. "You know... only the chair are broken and-"

"Don't you get it!" Brock shouted as he quickly got up and started to breath heavily with his face close to Ash's. "Those chairs... there's only one guy in Pewter City that can supply us with chairs!"

"So? Why not go to him?" Ash asked with a frown as he yawned slightly.

"You haven't met him!" Brock sighed. "He's impossible, always wanting to sell it to us for a lot more than it's worth... it would take a week to get that amount of chairs... and it would be twice as expensive!"

"Brock..." Ash actually sighed and, to Brock's big surprise, put a hand on the breeder's shoulder. "I know the difference between right and wrong. And I got to admit that the destruction here was partially my fault... that's why I'm going to go with you to that guy and... 'talk' sense into him."

"T-thanks, Ash..." Brock was stunned, he didn't even bother to notice the emphasis Ash had used at the word 'Talk'. "We... we could really use your help!"

The trainer simply nodded, he then looked around the tent. "Looks like we're going to need a little more manpower to take care of this."

He then turned and walked out of the marquee, leaving everyone stunned by his sudden action of taking command of everything.

* * *

Ash simply ignored the looks he got and walked up to the Pewter City gym, where he knew people were trying to get over their 'headaches'.

He didn't open the door, he kicked in the door with a loud bang, only to see over twenty males lying there, half dead.

"Alright!" Ash roared as he walked into the middle of the field in the gym. "Get your asses up! Time to work for once in your pathetic lives!"

"Leave us alone...!" Came a grunt from the side.

"Get up... now!"

"Never!"

The trainer sighed, he looked at the scratch-cat at his side.

Meowth nodded and opened his mouth and a great jet of water came shooting from it. The jet didn't direct itself at a single target, instead it shot to the roof, and created a rain like shower to fall on the males.

"Are you crazy?" Roared a voice from the other side of the gym. "We're trying to rest here!"

"A hangover is nothing to rest for!" Ash shouted back with a dark look. "Don't be weaklings!"

He waited a minute as the water continued to pour down, he then sighed, nobody in the room seemed to even an inch.

"Meowth, stop it, it's no use." He sighed and was about to walk out.

He then stopped at the door with an evil smirk on his face.

"Let's give them a goodbye-present, Meowth... use Sunny Day!"

The cat smirked as he lifter his two paws high in the air, bright orange orbs began to form there, and when they were at the size of his head he threw them at the roof of the gym, causing the "sun' to shine brightly inside the rather dark gym.

Ash closed the door after himself, smirking a bit as he heard the painful shouts from the other males in the gym.

"Now..." The dark trainer seemed to think again. "Since those idiots won't work... we need to find the manpower elsewhere..."

It was like a light-bulb appeared over the trainer's head as he remembered the unused source of strength that is normally overlooked. "Meowth, come!"

He started to run along with his cat back to the Harrisons' backyard, he didn't care about the confused shouts he got as he jumped over the fence that was separating the yards, stopping with a big frown on his face, then started to walk forward rather angrily.

"STOP!" He roared with a slight furious voice. "We need them! That's an order!"

Pikachu, Sceptile, Blastoise, Butterfree, Torterra, Raichu and Honchkrow stopped in their charge towards the other pokemon and looked confusedly at the dark trainer.

Pikachu then jumped into his trainer's arms as he could see that he was unharmed. And, the rest of the pokemon, who could see that Ash was alright felt there was no more need to fight anymore, lowered their guards and sighed in relief.

Ash frowned slightly as he could see that a Combusken, a Butterfree, that was not his, and a Roselia jump around the field, looking like they were trying to provoke the other pokemon to fight for some reason...

"There's been an accident!" Ash shouted so every pokemon could hear.

The pokemon gasped and moved closer so they could hear the aura-user's words.

"A battle broke out in that big tent, and everything is ruined!"

Pikachu and Sceptile sighed, for a second they thought it was something serious...

"That's why I've taken the initiative to gather all of you, so you could help them rebuild or replace the things that was destroyed!" Ash cleared his throat a bit. "However, I want to talk with some of my pokemon and a few of the others as well... will Pikachu, Raichu, Sceptile, the two Butterfrees, Torterra, Combusken, Roselia and Honchkrow stay here... the rest of you, get the hell out of here!"

Some of the pokemon seemed to salute before they ran towards the Harrisons' backyard, jumping over the fence and then continued towards the tent, where they were faced with surprised shouts.

The rest of the pokemon that were left with Ash, three of them looking really nervous, looked at the trainer.

"Raichu, your trainer is having a giant hangover, so I expect you to help Paul for now... Honchkrow and Torterra, go with Raichu to Paul and explain the situation."

The three pokemon nodded and walked pass the trainer, who turned to his other pokemon.

"You were about to start another battle? I thought I told you not to do that..."

All the pokemon started to explain... or, rather three pokemon tried to shout over the other four.

"Quiet!" Ash roared, and the pokemon stopped talking. "I don't care about that... however, I do know that to leave an battle without a decisive conclusion isn't satisfying. And since I could easily see that you three," He nodded towards the unknown Butterfree, Roselia and Combusken. "Seemed more than eager to battle, I'm going to put you up against my own Butterfree, Pikachu and Sceptile!"

The three of Ash's pokemon got big smirks as they looked towards their trembling opponents.

"Blastoise, Meowth, let's go." Ash simply stated. "Pikachu, Sceptile, Butterfree, you join us when you're done... have fun..."

With those words he recalled Blastoise into its pokeball and walked away with Meowth, ignoring the cries of pain and terror behind him.

"Wow, boss, someone's softening up!" Meowth smirked at him after a moment.

"What do you mean?"

"You're acting as if you care!" Meowth laughed from his position on his trainer's shoulders.

"Didn't we go this through before? I've no feelings, remember?" Ash tried to joke and change the subject. "What do you think about the battle?"

"I wanted to be there, and don't try to talk your way out of it!" Meowth snapped at him as he tightened his grip around Ash's shoulder, in case said trainer decided to push him off. "You ARE softening up!"

"No, I'm not."

"Yes you are! You even volunteered to help the Old-Twerp with that guy!" Meowth stated with a big smile. "I'm so proud of you!"

Ash simply ignored Meowth's hug around his neck and the anime-tears that were pouring down the cat's eyes. He simply leaned closer to his pokemon's ear and whispered a few quick words.

The cat stopped crying and looked at him with big eyes, then those eyes turned to sinister slits along with a smirk on his face.

"Really?" The trainer nodded. "Awesome! I knew you still had it, boss!"

They laughed and continued their way towards the tent.

* * *

Brock could only look with big eyes as the large mass of pokemon stood there in the tent-opening in well organized lines, looking like they were waiting for something.

"Um... hi?" He carefully waved. "Mind... euhm... mind telling me why you ignored your trainers' orders and came here?"

"Because they listened to my orders!" Brock jumped slightly at the sound of the harsh voice, he looked around wildly before he spotted the dark trainer standing there with his arms crossed.

"Ash! What've you done?" The breeder shouted as he ran towards the trainer and shook him. "We don't have TIME to take care of the pokemon! You need to send them back!"

The trainer only got a bored look on his face, he then snapped his fingers, making the pokemon move into the tent and, to Brock's big surprise, started cleaning up and arranging the decoration again.

"Oh, my!" The girls had just entered the tent with surprised look. "What on earth happened here?"

"Well, ladies." Brock frowned at Ash's unexpected improvement of manner. "The pokemon have volunteered to help with the decorations and arrangements for the wedding."

"Really? Why?" Lola asked curiously as she walked a little closer.

"How the hell should I know?"

Brock couldn't help but smile a bit, he was still the same Ash... and yet not at the same time...

"That's awesome!" Casey declared happily. "Then we still can have that slumber-party!"

"'Slumber-party'?" The dark trainer frowned. "What are you? Twelve?"

The breeder quickly took Ash to the side and started to explain it to him.

"Well, Ash, you see..." He tried to find the right words. "It's been some sort of tradition in my family that the guys go to the pubs and have a few drinks, and the girls spend the night together and-... wipe that look off your face! As I said, they spend the night together, as FRIENDS, and... I don't really know what they're doing, no male can enter the room then. Ordinarily, other people would have hen parties or bridal showers, but this slumber party is a long standing tradition in the Harrison-family"

The slightly perverted look was still on Ash's face as he looked towards the girls, who frowned and blushed when they saw the look in his eyes. Then a frown appeared on his face.

"Hey, there's only two days left to this stupid thing." Ash stated and was referring to the wedding. "How can they manage a sleep-over, unless they expect us guys to direct the pokemon..."

"Oh, we'll stay here. Don't worry." Caroline smiled at the dark trainer. "The rule says that there's... an age-requirement for the sleep-over... it's only for those from age 16 to 25 years old."

"And since you're really old you can't attend." Ash nodded knowingly and ignored the furious and embarrassed looks Caroline, Johanna, Lola, Solidad and Rhonda were sending him, completely red in the face. "You know... I like this idea more and more!"

"Ash! They're not going to do what you think!" Brock protested quickly, trying to defend the girls' honor.

"How do you know? Have you ever been to one?" Ash asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What? No... I haven't." The breeder said, his voice filled with hesitation.

"Then how can you be so sure?"

Brock opened his mouth, but then closed it again; he then glanced towards the girls before he lowered his voice. "You think it's true?"

"Is what true, Brock?" Holly had suddenly appeared from nowhere and stood at his side, causing both the dark trainer and the breeder to jump slightly.

"N- nothing!" Brock squeaked out with a high voice. "We... we're just... discussing something!"

"Oh! About what?" The former bird-trainer asked curiously.

"N-nothing! Right, Ash?" The breeder gulped.

"What do you mean 'nothing'?" Ash frowned. "We're simply discussing if you girls will ha-"

Brock quickly clasped his hands over Ash's mouth and dragged him away, ignoring the fact that Ash could break both his arms without a second thought. "DON'T talk about 'it', Ash!" He whispered harshly as he continued to drag away the extremely irritated trainer across the tent. "IF that's true, then we need to- b-b-b-b-b-b-b..."

"Brock, I'm not that fond of male intimacy..." Ash said in a quiet yet threatening voice. "If you're not going to do that again, I'll let go off your fingers and they'll be back to their normal size before you're going to let Holly place that ring on your finger... I doubt that you want to lose them now, am I right?"

The breeder only whimpered, but he managed to nod his head, enough so Ash would let go of Brock's right hand and cause the breeder to fall down on the floor, panting hard.

"Looks like the reinforcements are here." Ash suddenly said, causing the breeder to look up.

Sceptile, Butterfree and Pikachu came charging into the room, all of them looking like they had something important to say.

Ash simply took out two pokeballs and called back Sceptile and Butterfree. While Pikachu jumped up on his trainer's shoulder, ignoring the fact that he knocked Meowth off, and started to whisper in the trainer's ear.

"Really?"

The rodent nodded.

"When?"

Pikachu whispered a bit more, causing the breeder to have a big frown on his face when Ash got a rather satisfied and eager look on his face.

"What's the matter, Ash?" Brock got up from the floor and looked at the trainer, who only just remembered that Brock was in the room.

"Nothing." The trainer shrugged. "Might just be forced to leave for a while later today... nothing that you should care about."

"I see..." The breeder hesitated. "Oh, well, gather Max and Paul, we have things to do!"

* * *

_About an hour later..._

* * *

"Alright, girls!" Holly looked at the group of females. "Are you ready?"

The group of girls, that consisted of May, Dawn, Misty, Zoey, Sabrina, Erika, Casey and Marilyn, nodded eagerly and cheered.

"Then, let's go! We have room specially reserved for this occasion!"

* * *

"Alright, guys!" Ash walked back and forth in front of the line that consisted of Max, Paul and Brock. "I'm only going to say this once; We have a golden opportunity, even if some of us are over 18, we still never stop thinking on what REALLY happens inside a girls slumber party…AM I RIGHT?"

"SIR, YES, SIR!" The other males jumped slightly and shouted back.

"Good!" Ash nodded. "However. We're going to have a little trouble... we could've simply used a pokemon hidden in the room, a psychic type that could create a link to us so we can hear everything they said... unfortunately, they have a witch near them... making it impossible for us to smuggle in a pokemon... or person."

"Wait a minute!" Brock cried out suddenly. "What do you mean by 'a person'?"

"I was thinking we could dress Max as a girl and say that he was one of Brock's cousins or something." Ash admitted and ignored the glare from Max and the laughter from Paul. "But, since the witch could tell what was going on in an instance, that plan won't work..."

"So, what do we do then?" Paul asked with a frown. "How are we possibly going to make it if we have a psychic-master to worry about?"

"Good planning." Ash simply smirked. "Meowth, hand me my bag."

The cat nodded and picked up Ash's black backpack and gave it to him. The trainer opened it up and took out a small monitor thing along with some kind of loud-speaker.

"I used them in Orre on an infiltration mission." Ash simply spoke as he put the gear up. "Between the time everyone first saw me and the time they saw me in the kitchen, I had already planted several small cameras and microphones everywhere around the house and-"

"WHAT?" Brock shouted in both surprised and anger. "Have you been spying on us?"

"Yes, would you please let me continue?" Ash asked with an irritated voice, the breeder only muttered in response. "Thank you."

He plugged in the contact and nodded in satisfaction when the system started up.

"I hesitated on planting one in that room, since it looked like small girl's room... but, then I thought it would be unfair if that room didn't get bugged while the other ones did." He didn't explain the logic behind that statement any further than that even when the other guys looked at him in confusion. "I only need to adjust that and that and... done!"

"What the hell?" The breeder's voice flared up again. "Why have you BUGGED my BEDROOM?"

"Who knows what you're in planning there." Ash simply stated as he played around with the antenna. "Ever heard of 'Bed-talk'? It gets so lonely without a good soap..." Not even Brock could miss the sarcasm that filled Ash's voice.

"Now...I'm just going to change channel and... there!"

The screen on the TV suddenly showed a room with pink walls that was filled with pillows all over the place, it seemed like the camera was hidden in some kind of pokemon-plushy with sharp teeth.

The guys quickly pulled up a chair in front of the screen as Ash turned on the microphone so they could hear everything they said.

"Anyone got pop-corn?"

"Max, this is a mission, not a movie!" Ash barked at him with a serious voice, causing the younger boy to flinch a bit.

"I don't get what's the big deal. Isn't it enough with just the sound?"

His words earned him a slap to the back of the head by Paul.

"Idiot! Have you lived under a rock all this time?"

"What are you talking about?"

The other males just hushed him and focused intently on the monitor.

* * *

"So... what are we going to start with?" Erica asked joyfully. "Any ideas?"

"Hmm..." Holly seemed to think. "What about some... girl talk!"

The other girls squealed, some of them swore that they could hear groaning coming from another part of the house, but they simply shrugged it away.

"Yeah! What do you think about the new seal for pokeballs?" Dawn asked eagerly, she may not be a coordinator anymore, but she was still a coordinator at heart. "Isn't it pretty?"

"Yeah! I like how the pink color surrounds the ball like it's a tiny apple and how the..."

* * *

"Alright, I'm out of here!" Ash simply declared as he got up to leave the room.

"Ash? Where you going?" Paul asked with a frown. "It might start anytime now!"

"Yeah, I'll be back then. I'm just going out to take care of some... business... Meowth, you stay here, Pikachu, come with me.

The mouse nodded and jumped onto the trainer's shoulder as he walked out from the house.

* * *

_About ten minutes later..._

* * *

"I can't take it anymore!" Max shouted in frustration and ran up and unplugged the speaker, causing the sound from the feed to be cut.

"No! Max!" Brock and Paul quickly got up and shook him. "What are you doing? We have no sound!"

"Could you take any more of that?" Max shouted in anger as he wiggled himself away from their grip. "I get enough of 'girl-talk' at home by listening to May when she's on the phone!"

"Nice work, Short-Twerp!" The cat spat as he looked at the machine. "You broke a line, only the boss knows how to fix it..."

"Aren't you supposed to be some kind of engineer on the team?" Paul asked with a frown as he crossed his arms.

"Yeah, on machines... but how the hell am I going to mix wires if I don't have any bloody thumbs!" Meowth waved his paws in front of Paul's face, getting a deeper frown from the Pyramid Master.

"I see... Max, you're an idiot."

"What? What did I do?"

Brock grabbed max by the shoulders and started to whisper in his ear, and Max's face paled with each passing second.

When the breeder was finished Max looked at him with big eyes.

"That's what they're going to do?"

"That's what we're going to find out." Brock simply nodded.

"Okay, good night!" With those words the young trainer simply fainted on the spot.

* * *

"Stupid wedding... I don't even wanna be here!" Came a mutter from a really overweight person as he made his way towards the parking lot. "Doesn't respect my authority... much better than them..."

The green haired, former coordinator, stopped and looked at his white limousine with big eyes, somebody had smashed its windows... twice!

"You really thought I was going to let you go that easy, Drew?" Came a dark voice that sent shivers down Drew's spine.

"A-Ash? It... it was just a joke! I... I didn't know that my... Persian would do-... Delia was a really nice woman! We'll miss her and-"

"Drew, please, shut the hell up." Ash sighed, while Pikachu sparked his cheeks. "I never thought I was going to say this. But, you've caused more damage to the wedding than I've done, and you're running away from it... you got invited for a reason, and that reason is for you to stay. So, I came here to tell you that I'm not going to do anything to you for the duration of the wedding if you just behave yourself."

The former coordinator got a blank look on his face. Did that... that BUM just show him pity? Him, a powerful trainer and graceful coordinator? He could make him disappear! He could make him get on his knees and beg for mercy while-

"Drew? What do you say?"

"Well, for your information... _trainer_, I got thrown out from the wedding by that bitch! She didn't want me there, so you can just go and-"

The green haired mass was silenced by Ash raising his hand to stop him.

"What?" Drew asked with an irritated voice.

"The wedding is over for you..." Ash smirked evilly as he took slow steps towards him, with a snickering rodent on his shoulder who was practically leaking malice and retribution.

Drew could feel a wet spot form in his pants...

* * *

"Well, while we're waiting for Ash... why not tell us why the real story about Ash and May, Meowth?" Brock asked casually, ignoring said cat who froze at those words.

"What do you mean, Old-Twerp? That's the real story!" He stated as he tried to calmly continue with his work.

"Don't Tauros-shit us, Meowth." Paul stated. "I could see how Ash lied when he told me that story and-"

"The boss did NOT lie!" Meowth spat as he threw aside his tools and glared at them.

"Well, he avoided telling the full story then." Paul yawned a bit. "Aren't you going to fill us in?"

The cat growled, he somehow suspected that this would happen when the boss went out... he sighed, better to tell the truth instead of trying to simply deny it, if they came to the boss he would just hurt them if they so much as brought it up...

"Okay, but not a word of pity or anger towards the boss, okay?" The others nodded. "Good, it all started with..."

* * *

"So, May." Holly suddenly said, causing every girl stop talking to each other and listen in on the conversation. "What's the history between you and Ash? And I'm NOT talking about the story before you won the Grand Festival! I'm talking about what happened AFTER, why are you so cold to each other?"

"That's none of your business, Holly!" May snapped at her with a red face, making everybody's curiosity grow even greater.

"I think it's time for you to tell them, May." Sabrina stated with her incredibly calm voice. "If you refuse... I'll simply do it for you."

"You wouldn't dare..." May growled and glared at the psychic.

"Wouldn't I?" Sabrina asked with an amused smile.

"Oh, fine!" May sighed, she better tell them the whole story so she could prevent Sabrina from giving away the more embarrassing details. "But this will stay between us! Okay?"

"Sure!" Everybody said simultaneously.

May took a deep breath before she started.

"It was right after I had won my first Grand Festival... I... well, I wasn't myself... my only explanation was that I was probably so full of myself that I kinda looked down on the novice-trainers... and I'm ashamed of that!" She quickly added as she saw the looks the other girls were giving her. "I can only blame myself for that... and Drew... After I'd won it, he came over to me and... he was so sweet, you wouldn't even understand if I tried. He told me how good I was, how strong and skilled I was! He said that he loved me and... well, the next thing I remember we were boyfriend and girlfriend... and that's the time that Ash came..."

May took a deep breath, it really hurt her emotionally to talk about that particular memory.

"Go on, May." Holly whispered comfortingly as she had began to rub her back.

May nodded and then continued.

"Well, I was surprised to hear, and see, that he was the new champion of Sinnoh, I was happy and glad for him. I think we started on the wrong foot when he saw how I acted against a novice-coordinator that came to ask me for advice. Anyway, we started to fight and argue, and then Ash started to talk about Drew, about how he only used me and so on, how he wasn't good for me and that... that he loved me..."

All the girls in the room gasped at those words, who would've known that, the once dense, Ash could love a girl, and even confess to her!

"The next thing that happened is something I'm most ashamed off..." May sighed, you could actually see her eyes glimmer with tears. "I laughed at him... I laughed at him and told him that he would never understand love!"

May started to hug her knees and refused to continue, causing every girl in the room to take her into a big hug, comforting her.

After a while May felt better and continued with the story.

"He then ran, without saying a word to me, he simply ran away. I didn't even bother to run after him! I only went back to Drew..." May shivered at the memory. "Our relationship didn't last long, I wanted to travel and see the world but he only wanted to stay in one place, he even stopped training his pokemon and... he didn't behave like the sweet boy that he was at the beginning... so one of the times we got into a fight, I ended it and I left him."

The girls were still trying to process the story when May continued.

"It then came to me as to what I had really done to Ash, so I looked him up, it was hard but I finally found him at a pub in Johto... he was only around sixteen then but was already poisoning himself with that alcohol!" She sniffed sadly. "I tried to talk to him, but he only fainted as the alcohol consumption had finally caught up to him so I carried him to my room and took care of him. But when he woke up... his eyes... I can't explain how much hate and hostility he seemed to be radiating at me. I tried to apologize... but he wouldn't listen to me, I tried to pull him into a hug but he pushed me away. When I tried to show him the good memories we had together I simply... well, I took out my half of the ribbon and showed it to him."

Everybody nodded, they had read the famous story in the gossip column of a famous magazine about two years ago about the "Lovely Moment Between the Top Coordinator and the Sinnoh Champion"...

"But... then he- he- he..." Tears were falling down May's face as she thought back to that moment. "He took his half out from his pocket and... he threw it in my face! He said that he didn't want to see me... he called me... things... He said that I should go back to Drew and that... that was the last I saw of him... until this week..."

Holly looked to Sabrina, the psychic simply nodded in agreement. The girls then tried different ways to cheer up the crying girl.

* * *

"And that's what happened." Meowth simply stated with a frown. "Nobody's to blame for this, since neither of them acted as the 'hero', or 'villain'. It was simply a matter of pride."

"I... wow..." Brock tried to speak. "I... would never have guessed..."

"Seems like I got it wrong." Paul nodded, then closed his eyes. "What do you think Ash will do if he finds out that you've been telling us that story?"

"He will be very disappointed in his pokemon." A dark voice came from the door, causing Brock, Paul and Meowth to jump high into the air. "Although, Meowth, I can't order you to not talk about it... I guess I deserve that for telling that story about you in Orre, eh?"

"Got that right, boss." Meowth smirked.

"Now... what's the matter with the sound?" Ash asked with a frown.

"Oh, Max couldn't take their talk and destroyed it..." Brock sighed.

"Fool..." Ash sighed as he knelt down towards the box to take a look at it.

"Yeah, I know he-"

"Not Max, you!" Ash laughed a bit. "Did it even strike you to look what the problem was?"

"Eeeh, no?" Paul hesitated while Brock froze.

"Thought so." Ash smirked as he simply put the blue contact into the blue socket.

With that action the sound came back immediately.

"What are they using that bottle to do?" Ash asked with a frown as he looked at the screen.

"Oh! They're playing 'Truth or Dare'!" Brock cried out in excitement.

"What?"

"The one the bottle points at will be forced to choose between to answer a question truthfully, or do a dare thing that the others will decide on! And, after that, it's that person's turn to spin the bottle!"

"I know much better ways for them to use that bottle..." Ash muttered to himself in disappointment as he sat down, Brock paled and Paul nodded.

* * *

"Go on, now, say it!" Casey smirked at Erika. "It's the rules!"

"F-fine!" Erika, the grass-gym leader said with a bright red face. "Alright, the most embarrassing thing I did was... when I was at the mall and was trying on new underwear... when an alarm sounded and I thought it was a fire, so I hurried out of the changing room... the only problem was that it was only a crying Bonsly and I was only wearing the shops underwear when I ran out, and that set off the anti-theft alarm and I was brought back there almost naked with everyone looking at me!"

The girls screamed with laughter as the Erika blushed even more, but she frowned a bit when she some much deeper laughter coming from a different part of the house...

"Anyway, let's continue!" Holly wiped the tears from her eyes as Erika spun the bottle.

It was about to stop, but then somehow it had a little burst of extra speed and stopped on a girl next to the psychic master.

"Sabrina! We saw that! You can't use your powers to stop the bottle!"

"Fine, then." The beautiful psychic muttered as she crossed her arms.

"What now?" Casey asked as she glared at Sabrina.

"Well, guess it's still Marilyn's turn, Sabrina won't use her powers anymore and the bottle didn't exactly land on her." May, who had finally calmed down, simply said with a shrug.

"Okay..." Erika agreed then turned to Marilyn. "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth!" Marilyn, the 'cute' pokemon lover, said with a cheerful smile.

"Okay then... what's the cutest pokemon you know?"

All the girls sweat-dropped, they forgot that a gym-leader never should ask a Truth, since it would only be about the other's pokemon.

* * *

"And... now! It got boring..." Ash yawned and got up from his spot. "I'm going out for a walk, anyone wanna join me?"

"No/nah/nope/chu." Was the collective sound from the other males.

"Fine, but she's not going to say either Pikachu or Meowth..." Ash muttered as he walked out of the door, being ignored by his two pokemon who were too busy waiting for her answer.

* * *

"I think... it's... Buneary!" Marilyn screamed, waking up half of the girls who had fallen asleep waiting for her answer.

"Alright then, spin the bottle, Marilyn!" Holly smiled weakly at her.

The bottle began to spin and, to everybody's surprise, it landed on no other then the master of psychics, Sabrina!

"That was interesting." She slowly stated as she watched the bottle point at her.

"Truth or Dare?" Marilyn asked with a cheeky voice.

"I'm not going to let you find out what's in my head." Sabrina simply stated as she gave the fetish-driven trainer a hard glare.

"Then it's Dare, right?" Marilyn laughed nervously.

"Yes."

"And you can't use any of your psychic powers!" Holly suddenly butt-in. "Can you stop them for a bit, or something?"

Sabrina nodded and closed her eyes for a bit, she then opened them again.

"Gone."

Erika wanted to try it out and threw a pillow at her, the pillow hit her head and she glared at the grass-trainer.

"What? I just wanted to see if you were speaking the truth!" She stated with a smile.

"What's the dare?" Sabrina asked after a while.

"Well..." A very evil smirk appeared on Marilyn's face. "I want you to take off EVERYTHING and walk to the stairs and back, no using your psychic power to sense if anyone is there, alright?"

All the girls gasped, and Sabrina frowned. But, then she nodded.

"Turn off the lights." She said with a hard voice.

Zoey switched off the lights and the room was plunged into darkness, they could swear that they heard could hear screams of disappointment coming from somewhere.

"Alright, I'm ready." Sabrina's voice sounded from the dark.

She felt through the dark with her hands until she felt the door-knob, she grabbed it and opened the door, forcing her to close her eyes a bit to adjust to the darkness outside.

The light was slightly burning in her eyes as she made her way out, as she made her way out she saw a black silhouette near the stairs.

Her eyes slowly adjusted to the light and she saw a man, around 19 years old with black hair, standing there with his eyes wide open and his mouth slightly agape.

Ash couldn't help but tilt his head a bit as he looked at the naked psychic-master as she looked at him. Then a smirk appeared on his face.

"You know... you only had to ask, you didn't need to show."

And, for the first time in fifteen years, the psychic-master blushed a bright red color.

"Who knew that this wedding would be this interesting?" Ash laughed as he leaned against the banister.

Sabrina only made some kind of 'eep'-sound and then ran straight back into the dark room.

Ash simply frowned when he could hear voices in there, screams, squeals and gasps also could be heard from the room. He could only make out bits and pieces of what they were saying

"No... not done... to... stairs... doesn't matter..." His frown deepened.

The door opened again, and the beautiful psychic-master came out again with a prideful look on her face.

"I'm doing a Dare, aura-user. I will go to the stairs and back, move."

"Hell no! I stand where I stand!" Ash laughed and continued to lean against the banister.

Sabrina gulped and the bright red color came back to her face, but she bravely continued to walk towards the stairs, passing Ash, ignoring the sound he made as their bodies were only a few centimeters from each other she got to the stairs and turned, passing Ash again, congratulating herself for not using any of her psychic powers to get out of this situation. But, when she was only a few steps from the door, she heard a voice.

"Hey! Sabrina!" For the first time in four years Ash had called her by her real name, she turned around with her face still bright red.

"What?"

"You smell like strawberries." Ash said with a smirk.

* * *

"What's taking her so long?" Holly asked out loud to nobody special.

"I don't know..." May answered. "Maybe she has fainted of embarrassment?"

"Oh, come on! She's lucky!" Casey's voice could be heard. "She's naked and alone with Ash a-... did I say that out loud?"

The other simply giggled at her, although most of them silently agreed with her.

There was a great "BOOM"-sound that made the girls cry out in surprise, then another one, then a scream and then several "boff"-noises followed.

They ran out quickly and saw the psychic-master walk back into the room, looking like she had restored a little of her lost dignity.

"Where's Ash?" Asked at least four girls at the same time.

Just as they finished that sentence, they heard a loud laughter coming from downstairs.

"I still have the camera, Sabrina!" The girls gasped at the sound of Ash's voice, some of them even ran to the stair to look down, but they could only see a little blood on the floor and nothing more.

"He took a picture of you?" Holly shouted in surprise.

"More like two." Sabrina stated casually as she continued to walk into the room. "Let me get dressed first, then we can continue this game."

The other girls were left speechless by her calm voice, but they soon followed her back into the room.

* * *

"Lens, broken; Flash, broken; Film, intact!" Ash's smile widened as he picked out the film and put it in his backpack. "Brock, I thank you for this wedding!"

"You're a dead man, you know that?" Brock asked with a pale look as he looked at the film in Ash's backpack. "You've just taken two photographs of the mightiest psychic in Kanto... naked!"

"Actually, I got three." Ash smiled as he closed his backpack. "And I think I can manage avoiding her for the rest of my life... I don't think she really cares that much."

"How can you say that?" Brock shouted in surprise. "She's going to kill you!"

"Nah, she seemed actually... a little flattered when I did it." Ash only shrugged and put away the backpack. "Anyway, let's continue! This IS interesting!"

They turned their attention back to the TV, where a Double-Dare was in action.

"So, do you understand?" Came a voice, that sounded like Zoey's, from the monitor. "Holly you are going to take a walk to the ground floor, and Dawn to the attic... in only your underwear!"

You could hear girls gasp and chatter excitedly on the monitor.

Ash turned to Brock and Paul with a slight frown.

"I suggest that you go, some of the other guys may have woken up from their hangovers."

They both nodded and Brock ran to the bottom floor and Paul to the top floor, to act surprised and convince them to walk back.

"Hold it!" Ash's attention was directed to the monitor again. "What about May?"

"What do you mean, Dawn?" Holly asked in confusion.

"She was between you, and she chose truth! Shouldn't something happen then, too?"

"Alright... a quick question then... Sabrina?"

"I've one." The psychic-master simply said as she looked at the beautiful brunette. "Do you love Ash Ketchum?"

Ash gripped the couch with his hands, his knuckles all white. He quickly looked over at Pikachu and Meowth, both of whom seemed to have fallen asleep.

"I.. uh.." Even through that small camera Ash planted, he could see her bright-red face. "Ask me another question!"

"Don't try and worm your way out of it! Answer that one... or I'll do it for you." Sabrina smirked as she looked at the really embarrassed brunette.

"Alright, I'll answer." May sighed. "Yes, I do love him."

"WHAT?" Was the sound that came from all girls, expect for Sabrina and May. "How can you say that? He dropped you! He behaved like a jerk towards you!"

"But he also caught her when she fell, and he risked his life to save her!" Dawn stated with a proud smile, even if she was only in her underwear.

"It doesn't matter, anyway." May sighed. "He doesn't love me."

"You got that right..." Ash growled to the monitor.

"Don't worry, May!" Holly smiled at her. "We girls must all promise that, tomorrow, we'll do everything in our power to get you and Ash together!"

"Thanks, Holly!" May hugged her half-naked friend, who couldn't help but blush a bit.

"Don't worry, May. By the end of the wedding, you and Ash will be together!"

Apart from the sound from the monitor, you couldn't hear a thing, only shallow breathing while a raven haired trainer sat there with a bothered look on his face, looking towards the ground.

"Now, let's get your dares doing!" Zoey cried out and opened the door, causing Dawn and Holly to run out with nervous giggles.

"Hey, boss, what's wrong?" Meowth asked with a frown as he, along with the rodent, woke up and sat himself between them. "What's the matter?"

"What? Nothing Meowth." Ash cleared his throat and pushed away the thought for the moment. "I'm just waiting for Holly and Dawn to finish their dares..."

"Huh?"

Ash directed his gaze to the monitor and nodded satisfied when he saw the girls return, and he started to laugh when he saw the two males come in. The squint-eyed one had some red color lipstick mark on his face while the other one had a red mark on his cheek as well… in the shape of a hand.

When Brock was about to thank Ash, and Paul about to yell at him, the trainer held up his hand, stopping them, he then motioned towards monitor, where a new Truth had begun.

* * *

"Okay, Marilyn, this time you're not going to get away that easy!" It was Misty who was talking. "Tell me, apart from Ash, who's your other crush?"

There was some mumbling noise that the neither the guys nor girls didn't catch.

"What did you say?" Holly asked carefully.

"I said Drew!" Marilyn shouted out in embarrassment.

"WHAT?" The girls turned quickly around, none of them had said a word, but the timing of the males voices were too precise to be a coincidence.

"There's someone here!" Holly exclaimed, and the other girls started to look around quickly.

* * *

"Please, don't lift the Pikachu-plushy, please don't lift the Pikachu-plushy, please don't lift the-... she's lifting the Pikachu-plushy!" Meowth shouted out to nobody in particular as they could see Casey lift the miniature-Pikachu.

* * *

"Look! A microphone!" They could hear Casey cry out on the screen.

"And here's a camera!" Misty exclaimed as she lifted up the little camera, the males' blood froze when she looked straight into it.

"So... THIS is how we ran into them! It's Ash's, Brock's and Paul's little prank!" Erika stated as she grew red. "They've heard everything we've been saying!"

"Where are they?" Sabrina demanded, she floated a bit in the air before she smiled. "I can feel three people and two pokemon on the third floor, in the room to the left of the bathroom."

* * *

"She's on to us!" Brock cried out in fear. "Hey... how come she said 'three' people? Max is here! Is it because he has fainted or-"

"No, I blocked her psychic sensor with my aura, only for a while though, she's going to break through it any moment though..." Ash stated with a low voice.

"Any ideas? I don't wanna die yet!" Paul declared with a frightened voice as he saw the girls leave the room.

"We can fight!" Ash shouted and sprang out from his seat in the couch, along with Meowth and Pikachu. "The survivors will be able to tell the others how close we were to seeing the girls when they-"

"How can you still think that they're going to do _it_?" Brock asked with a frown.

"Can't you stop it with your movies?" Ash asked with a frown of his own. "They're always waiting till midnight! And it's only eleven o'clock!"

Brock was about to say something, but he closed his mouth when he heard somebody climbing the stairs. "They're coming!"

"No fighting?" Ash asked with a frown.

"No! No fighting!" Brock shouted at the trainer. "We're dead!"

"Well, then it's every man for himself!" Ash quickly sprang up to the window. "I wish you good luck."

"Hold on! You can't leave us here!" Brock cried out and ran after Ash, with Paul close on his heels.

"Alright, but you need to do exactly as I say, no hesitation... if you hesitate, you're dead." There was no joke in Ash's voice.

"We understand." Brock nodded.

The trainer took forth a red and white orb and threw it outside the window, and a turtle pokemon appeared on the ground below them.

"Blastoise! Hydro Pump up to the window, quick!"

The turtle nodded and aimed his canons towards the window and shot out a great jet of water.

The stream of water hit just under window, forming some kind of watery platform, as Blastoise continued to shoot of more water to maintain it.

"Alright, jump onto the jet, no hesitation!" Ash shouted and threw himself, along with his backpack, Meowth and Pikachu onto the water jet.

Brock and Paul took a deep breath before they too threw themselves onto the watery platform.

"Alright, lower us down now!"

Blastoise grunted as he lowered the pressure from his cannons, causing the water-pyramid to lower itself to the ground.

When it was about two meters from the ground the turtle stopped shooting water, causing the three males and two pokemon to drop to the ground, Ash on his feet and the others on their backs.

"Great job, return!" Ash said quickly and called him back, he then looked at Brock and Paul. "I suggest we split up, then they would have less evidence to prove that we did it together."

"Hold on!" Brock cried out suddenly. "What about Max? He's still in there!"

"We can't save them all." Ash lowered his head for a moment, to show his respect for the trapped young boy. "It's too late to rescue him; we can't do anything for him."

The three males and pokemon sighed, then they walked their different ways, Ash, Pikachu and Meowth towards their campsite and Paul and Brock towards the gym.

* * *

"I didn't know that he was with them." Casey stated, her head tilted to one side.

"Neither did I... what's wrong with him?" Zoey stated as she nudged the young trainer with her foot.

"Don't know..." May said. "He tends to faint when he can't take anymore shocks or when his mind just reeled from too much information... so my guess is that he fainted when Marilyn said she liked Drew."

"Hey!"

"Well, that's the only reasonable explanation!" Holly stated with her hand on the chin. "So... what do we do with him?"

"Do you have any ropes in the house, Holly?" Misty asked with a grin.

"I think so... why?"

"Because, we haven't had out makeover session yet and we have a 'volunteer' here with us!" Dawn answered her with a grin of her own.

All the girls started to laugh before they lifted the poor, young, innocent boy towards their room to do horrible things to him that would cause any male to cringe.

**End of chapter 15**

* * *

**That's the end of it! Well, the chapter, not the story...**

**By the way, Justicez has, again, published a note for you! Here it is:  
**

**"**_**Beta/Corrector's notes: I know some of you readers(especially the female audience) would probably be unhappy with the fact that ****instead of a hen or bachelorette party should be what the girls are having as opposed to the slumber party. But the problem is, the other 2 ideas wouldn't really fit the rest of the story very well hence why it's a slumber party. Also, Gerbilftw and myself would like to apologize if this isn't what really happens in a slumber party(neither of us have ever been to or successfully spied on one), but hey, at least it has got some humor value. On a side note, check my profile for updates on the chapters~ Justicez**_**"**

**As you can see, I'm not the only one who's sorry for that. On the other hand... the girls might find this chapter really funny, and in that case I'm glad! ;)**

**Anyway, I've finished all the chapters for the story, they're on for correction.  
And, now, you probably think: "Great! We're going to have the chapters really soon!"**

**...**

**You really think I'm that nice? No, you're wrong at that point.**

**1. It takes time for Justicez to correct my horrible grammar.**

**2. If we're going to manage to break the 500-limit we can't just sit on our buts all the time!**

**That's why I've figured out a little funny thing! I've randomly chosen, from alert, ten names (not telling whose). And I won't publish the next chapter until I've seen them! And I've also, for fun, taken out three anonymous-names! **

**You can curse at me all you want, but my decision is final. Think of it: The only thing I ask for you is to sign into your accounts, take 1-2 minutes with writing what you thought about the chapter, click at the "Publish Review"-button and then you're done!**

**It's better to review later than never and I'll be seeing you in the next chapter!**

**R&R!  
**


	16. Chapter 16

**Alright, let me first say that you did great, and especially since most of the reviews wasn't that hateful... although, I do owe you an apology. **

**You see... I did actually lie to you. I never picked out any names from the alert-list and so on... I was just curious on how much that would improve/decrease the review-numbers for the chapter, I was going to publish you the next one as soon as I got it anyway. I hope you can forgive my curiosity on that one.**

**Anyway, apart from that, here's the next, and penultimate, chapter of the story! I hope that this chapter will live up to some expectations!**

**Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review at the end of the chapter!**

**R&R!  
**

* * *

The screams that echoed through the night would make even the bravest man feel chills down his spine, it was filled with terror, it was filled with pain, it was filled with shame, it was the screams of Max.

Ash closed his eyes once again, the crackling of the fire helped him to calm down a bit. Another scream, why didn't anybody come in and stop them? Was it fair for Max to pay for Ash's, Paul's and Brock's crimes?

"I'm sorry, Max." Ash said to the fire and threw another stick to keep it going, the rodent lay at the side of the dark trainer and cooed worriedly. "I'm actually sorry..."

His head snapped up when he heard some noises in the bushes, he grabbed a pokeball and, with that motion, alerted Pikachu and Meowth who got up and glared towards the forest.

"Who goes there!" Ash demanded with an angry voice.

Two people came out from the bushes, a breeder and a frontier brain.

"It's us, Ash." Brock sighed. "We really messed that up."

"Why? What happened?" Ash demanded to know.

"We were going to our rooms, but I invited Paul for something to drink in mine." Brock explained. "Ten minutes later, we heard something out in the hall, we looked out and saw the girls going through Paul's room... they were looking for him, Ash! They were looking for us!"

Ash's frown deepened, he looked back into the fire.

"Really? This thing is way out of hand, what's wrong with them?"

"Well, we've heard some pretty personal stuff." Paul explained as he looked around nervously. "I think they want revenge for what we did."

"Seems logical." Ash nodded. "What are you doing here then? Shouldn't you go and hide?"

"That's what we're trying to do!" Brock explained hesitantly. "We don't dare to be too close to our house, who knows how far they can go for revenge?"

"It's now three in the morning, how long do you think you can stay awake?" Ash asked with a frown as he looked for another stick to throw onto the fire.

"Oh, we were wondering if we could sleep here, that's all." Brock explained as he, and Paul, looked worriedly around themselves. "So they can't find us."

Ash laughed a bit, but it was an empty laugh.

"Have you forgotten about Sabrina?" Ash smirked at them. "She can easily sense all of us, wherever we hide in the region."

"What?" Paul and Brock shouted simultaneously. "What are we doing here then? What are you doing here then!"

"I've no place else to go to." Ash yawned and stretched himself. "I'm about to sleep soon, joining me?"

"I- I don't know if I dare to fall asleep." Brock said after a few seconds of thinking.

"You don't have to worry." Ash yawned again. "You're getting married in two days... Paul and me, on the other hand, we're screwed if they got their hands on us."

"Not in the good way?" Paul gulped.

"Not in the good way." Ash smirked at the frightened Pyramid Master.

"Aren't you afraid?"

"Me? I'm terrified." The trainer stated as he reverted his gaze to the fire. "Only a fool would be brave around furious women... aura, or no aura."

"So, what are we gonna do?" Paul asked nervously as he looked back at Brock and then to Ash.

"Sleep." The dark trainer simply stated and threw a pokeball into the air, it then exploded in a bright white and sent out a giant, green lizard. "Sceptile, it's your turn to do guard-duty, alright?"

"Tile!" The lizard nodded and walked out of the camp and into one of the trees.

"Sleep now... you have a long day ahead of you." Ash chuckled a bit before he lay down and closed his eyes.

"What do you mean by that, Ash?... Ash?" Brock sighed as he heard snoring from the trainer. "Oh, well, better go to sleep than staying up... I'd rather wake up dead than face death directly."

"Brock?" Paul asked after a couple of seconds causing the breeder to look towards his direction with a curious look. "How the hell do you 'wake up dead'?"

"You know, you go to sleep when you're alive, and then you're dead when you wake up."

"But if you're dead you don't wake up."

"Well, how can you go to sleep dead then?"

"What?"

"What?"

"Good night, Brock." Paul sighed and closed his eyes as he leaned against a tree at the camp.

But the breeder didn't get to sleep, he was thinking about the previous conversation, not the 'wake up dead' conversation, but the conversation Ash had had with them.

"'You have a long day ahead of you'...?" Brock mumbled to himself, he then sighed and closed his eyes, letting the dark take over and take him to dreamland.

* * *

_Next day..._

* * *

"Brock! Brock!" The breeder turned to his loving fiancé, he smiled proudly as he saw her run towards him in a silken white dress, her hair flowing in the wind, her eyes sparkling in the sun. "Oh, Brock!"

Brock looked at himself, a black tuxedo and black polished shoes, wearing white gloves and could feel that little box in his pocket in his pressed black pants.

"Holly!" Brock started to run towards her with a happy smile on his face.

They made contact with each other and Brock spun her around in the high grass that was swaying in the wind.

"Oh, Brock! I love you!" Holly shouted out loud in happiness as she hugged him even tighter.

"And I love you too." Brock smiled as they rested with their foreheads against each other.

"I've a surprise for you, Brock." Holly smiled a little naughtily and closed her eyes, Brock got the hint and did the same himself.

Their lips collided and they both giggled a bit as Brock wrapped his arms around Holly's hips.

After a few minutes, they broke away and looked at each other with love in their eyes.

"Brock, it's time to wake up." Holly said as she closed in on him again.

"I'm already awake." Brock winked and took her into a passionate kiss again. "I love you!"

* * *

"What the hell do you think he's doing?" Paul asked Ash, who was sitting up on the ground.

"I've no idea, some serious brain-damage must have occurred in the night." Ash guessed as he followed his legs, that had two rather tanned hands around it, and then to his right shoe, which had a breeder's mouth all over it. "I'm just guessing... but I think he's cheating on Holly with my right shoe..."

"Does that make you guilty too?" The Pyramid Master asked curiously.

"Maybe..."

"Oh, Holly! I love you!"

"It HAS to be brain-damage, it just has to be!" Ash stated, his voice slightly filled with disgust as the breeder continued to make-out with his right shoe. "This is great... he's drooling all over it!"

Paul had to clasp his hand on his mouth to prevent himself from snickering out loud.

"Holly, please, let's do 'it'... now!"

"Hold on, Romeo!" Ash said with a rather loud voice. "If you're going pass second base with my shoe, you and I better have a talk first!"

"'Shoe'? Holly, what're you ta-" The breeder's eyes shot wide open... or, rather his squint eyes appeared to grow bigger... He couldn't remember Holly being so leathery, black and... smelly? "What the hell!"

"Congratulations, Brock." Ash laughed with Paul, who was roaring with laughter. "You've committed your first case of pre-marriage adultery... with a shoe!"

"What? How! No! What? Gah!" The poor breeder cried out in embarrassment and anger. "I didn't know! Oh, no! What's Holly going to say? What am I gonna do? How am I-"

"'Me, me, me'..." Ash did a bad impression of Brock. "Think about me, how am I going to remove all that drool from my shoe, huh?"

* * *

An hour later the three males and two pokemon were walking towards the Harrison Estate, nobody said a word about the previous scene that had occurred, nobody wanted to think about the previous scene that had occurred.

They could see the big yellow house appear in the horizon and all of them could actually feel slightly nervous.

"Hi guys! Where've you been?" The professor, Gary Oak, came running towards them with a slight smile. "Where were you this morning?"

"Gary, how's your head?" Ash smirked at the professor's embarrassed look.

"Oh, eeh, good, thanks." He looked down at the ground with a giant sweat-drop on his head. "Uuh, you haven't seen Max, have you?"

Paul, Brock, Meowth, Ash and Pikachu froze at those words.

"He hasn't returned?" Paul asked carefully.

"No, he hasn't." Gary frowned as he was deep in though. "Although, I don't know if I was dreaming or not, but I thought I heard screams last night..."

"You were dreaming, don't worry about it..." Ash growled a bit before entering the house, along with Pikachu and Meowth, Sceptile's pokeball tightly gripped in his hand.

"Where's he going?" The brown haired man asked with a frown.

"Don't ask, you don't wanna know." Brock gulped as he slowly walking away from the scene, leaving Paul and Gary alone.

"So... what's up?" Gary asked the pyramid master after a moment's of silence.

"Gary, get a shave." The purple haired man walked away towards the gym, probably for a meeting with Surge.

The professor only muttered as he stroked his thick mustache and walked towards the marquee.

* * *

Ash breathed heavily, his gaze changed from target to target at a rapid pace.

"Boss... you sure about this?" Meowth asked carefully, he still couldn't understand why he was so afraid. "Can't we just wait for backup?"

"We are the backup, Meowth." Ash hushed him and continued up the stairs. "What do you think?"

"I think you've lost what's left of your mind." Meowth stated as he looked around quickly. "Come on, the chances of that the Short-Twerp still being here is-"

"Quiet!" Ash hissed at him and made a motion towards the door.

He gently squeezed down the handle, thankfully no sound came of that action, and carefully opened the door.

His eyes widened, the trainer had thought that everyone would already be out of the room... so how come he could see at least five hairy blobs sticking out of sleeping-bags, two blue, a purple, an orange and one green. However, the thing that made Ash's breath catch the most was not the five sleeping girls, it was a boy around sixteen, tied up in a chair with his head lowered in shame.

The trainer slowly made his way towards him, making sure that he wouldn't step on any of the girls and wake them up. He came up to the person he once knew as Max and put a hand on his mouth, then he shook his body rather toughly.

"Mph!" Came a muffled sound from Max as he woke up.

"Shut up!" Ash whispered to him. "I'm here to get you out of here, can you walk? I'm going to move my hand away from your mouth..."

The gym-leader apprentice nodded, he took a deep breath when Ash removed the hand from his mouth.

The trainer got a look of disgust on his face as he saw what kind of things they had done to the young trainer.

They had somehow lengthened his eyebrows, applied a lot of make-up on his making him appear very pale and even applied some lipstick! He looked like a cheap Johto prostitute, according to Ash.

"By Arceus..." The dark trainer lowered his head in pity. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

The young boy sniffled a bit and let the trainer lead him out of the room, but Ash turned around just as he was about to close the door.

"You've slept long enough... you servants of Spiritomb..." Ash growled as he slowly called out Blastoise. "I sure hope that they've made this room water-proof." He stated as he removed the doorknob on the inside of the door. "Blastoise, why not wake them up with Rain Dance?"

The turtle growled in agreement and launched a giant ball of water at the ceiling.

Ash returned his pokemon quickly and closed the door after himself, smirking at the screams he got from the other side of the door.

"Time to wake up, ladies!" He laughed along with Pikachu and Meowth as they walked away.

"Ash! You're so dead!" He could recognize that voice as Misty's, but he only chuckled and continued down the stairs.

However, half way down the stairs, he bumped into something soft.

"I'm SO sorry, I was just-... h-hi, Ash!" The beautiful brunette blushed as she waved a trembling hand in a 'hello'-gesture.

The trainer only muttered something and walked pass her, not caring if the brunette got a pained expression on her face as she clutched at her chest...

"May! Good morning! Did you sle-" Holly halted herself when she saw the tears starting to form in the young brunette's eyes. "May! What's wrong?"

"I-It's nothing." She cleared her throat. "Just got something in my eye..."

"That's good, it's time for us to get you and Ash together, right?" Holly winked at her, expecting a blush, but May's head only drooped.

"Yeah... right..."

The former bird trainer sighed. "Come on May, don't take this away from me, I need to think of something other than the wedding for a while."

"But the wedding is tomorrow!" May stated stubbornly. "You don't have time to think of anything else!"

"Don't try me, May." Holly laughed. "The pokemon fixed the damage, the only thing that's missing are the chairs, and Brock's going to take care of it today, I'm done with everything else!"

"Not me!" She stated and crossed her arms. "I still have to train my pokemon for the contest that I'm going to when the wedding's finished and-... I do!"

"May, you're the youngest and most successful coordinator ever to appear in a long while, don't try and fool me." Holly laughed a bit, making May blow raspberry at her and turned her back at Holly."Alright, give me an hour and I'll round up the rest of the girls and we'll make plans!"

"What? No! Wait a minu-... oh, shoot!" May sighed grumpily as she saw that the bride-to-be had already disappeared. "Oh, well, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Might as well start training." She walked out of the house, looking for a good place to train her pokemon.

* * *

"Hi, Ash!" Brock walked up to him with a cheeky smile. "Good news, the girls aren't mad at u-... well, Paul and I... did you really need to spray water over Dawn, Casey, Erica, Misty and Marilyn?"

"They were in my way." The trainer simply shrugged his shoulders and diverted his gaze from the hill that he set up camp at. "Now, get the hell out of here."

"Why? Why can't I..." The breeder followed Ash's gaze with a smirk. "Oh... I see... well, I'll leave you two alone then."

"Brock, I swear, if you much as think of that possibility you will not live to see your wedding." Ash stated with a neutral voice as he looked at the breeder with fire in his eyes.

"Possibility?" The breeder said innocently. "I've no idea what you're talking abou-"

"Now, you're thinking about it." The trainer got a dark look on his face and started to walk towards the breeder.

"Aah! Alright! Alright! I'll stop!" Brock cried out as he took a few steps back. "I just wanted to tell you that we're going to town to get those chairs, you promised that you would help me!"

"Yeah, yeah, just get the hell out of here... I'll meet you at the house in half an hour." Ash waved him off and took his seat again. He then got a frown on his face.

"Meowth, you seem to be really interested in this performance." The trainer stated with a deep frown.

"What? No! I'm just.. uh, well..."

"It's okay, Pikachu has told me what happened to the others on that farm... stupid Brock..." The trainer sighed. "I'm not mad at you, but I am disappointed with you all, except for Sceptile and Pikachu, you went against my orders... although, I can't force you against your own will. I just want to say, I don't support this, but I can't force you to comply."

At that little speech, two pokeballs opened themselves and revealed a turtle and a butterfly, smiling at their master before placing themselves next to him, watching the performance too.

The trainer sighed and gripped his last pokeball.

"It's okay, I know that you want to have a look." He threw it into the air and summoned Sceptile, who had a blank look on his face. "Sit down... That's an order..."

The lizard smiled a little bit before seating himself down onto the ground, also watching the mini-performance that was happening below them.

* * *

"That's awesome, Blaziken!" May cheered at her pokemon. "Try and heat up Skitty's blizzard!"

The pokemon nodded and did as she was told, she opened her mouth and sent out a strong flame that collided with the ice shards, causing them to explode and rain down in little sparkles.

"Great job!" May hugged her two pokemon, it wasn't a particularly hard combo, but someone had taught her to always show appreciation for her pokemon, whatever they did... she didn't realize that said "someone" was seating on the hill behind her, watching them train. "Now, we just need to focus on Blaziken's, Blastoise's and Beautifly's training, since Glaceon and Skitty will be flower-pokemon for the wedding!"

The two pokemon cheered loudly at those words, while the female Blastoise and Beautifly looked rather upset at that.

"Now, the girls want to meet me for something... I'll take Glaceon with me and I trust Blaziken to keep things under control while I'm gone.

The pokemon nodded, making the coordinator smile.

"Alright, see you later!" She redrew Glaceon back into pokeball as she ran towards the house where the meeting was supposed to happen.

* * *

Ash, and his pokemon, sat there for a while after May had left, he actually had to admit that her pokemon were good at what they did... although he knew that any of his pokemon could easily wipe the floor with any of hers.

The trainer looked at the sun, it seemed like it had been about thirty minutes since Brock had left.

"Alright, I'm going to help Squint-Eye with that job." The trainer sighed. "Pikachu, I'll be needing your assistance, Meowth, you're in charge while I'm away... don't screw this up."

"Got it, boss!" The cat jumped up, happy for his first assignment. "I won't fail ya!"

The trainer nodded shortly, let the rodent jump onto his right shoulder, then he walked away from the scene, all the while feeling that something big was going to happen...

* * *

"Okay, so, when Ash comes here..." Holly paused to think. "Right, you'll accidentally fall... and he'll catch you! Then you have to give him some kind of reward, isn't that right?"

"I... guess so?" The beautiful brunette asked with a hesitant voice. "Are you sure that it's going to work?"

"I'm positive! Did that trick on Brock myself!" Holly stated proudly.

"Did you get the results you wanted?" Asked the blunette curiously.

"Eh... no... He actually fainted when I gave him a kiss on the cheek as thanks." Holly laughed uncomfortably, while everyone else was almost in tears, laughing at that. "Anyway, I'm sure that it's going to work for you!"

"Here he comes!" Marilyn said quickly as she saw the handsome, dark haired young man come walking in their direction, it seemed that he hadn't noticed them, yet.

"Alright, everybody to your positions!" Holly whispered quickly.

* * *

"I knew it..." Ash breathed out the words. "Brock sold me out, it's a trap..."

"Pi?"

"Can't you see them? About five to eight girls are waiting behind that big bush, I'm sure that witch is with them too..." Ash growled a bit and slowed his pace. "Well, I'm not going to let them get me and do the same thing to me that they did to Max... live with honor, or die with it!"

"Pika!" The rodent cheered silently and focused his gaze at their surroundings.

"It's clear that they expect me to come from the south of the bush..." The trainer thought about his next plan of action. "Another twelve steps and they can't see us due to that big tree blocking their view of us... when we're there, I want you to run pass them with a Volt Tackle as I pass them from the west... got it?"

"Pika." The rodent nodded and jumped off his shoulders and started a half-sprint as a yellow aura started to surround him.

Ash made a quick turn and approached the bush from another direction. He had a satisfied smirk on his face, they weren't going to get him today...

* * *

"OK, I think he's coming, May, casually walk out of the bush and when you see him, pretend to trip!" Holly smiled a cheeky smile as her eyes glimmered with glee.

"Alright, I'll... do you hear that?"

The girls started to listen intently; they heard something repeating a chant...

"Pika-pika-pika-pika-pika..."Was the sound that became louder and louder the closer whoever it was, got to them.

"What IS that?" Marilyn and Dawn poked their heads out from the bush.

"...PikaaaaaaAAAAAAAaaaaaaa..." The 'whoever it was' appeared and then disappeared, in a yellow streak, leaving everybody blinded by the sudden burst of bright light.

"W-what was that?" Holly asked stunned... literally...

"I don't kno-"

"Aah! My hair's ruined!" Came a terrified voice to the side of the two brunettes.

They looked over towards the voice, a certain blunette was really busy with trying to fix her hair, that was a complete mess after Pikachu's electric charge, they didn't know where she got her comb from...

* * *

"Got them..." Ash chuckled a bit to himself as he sneaked past the bush, in the direction where Pikachu was waiting for him.

"I'm sorry, May." He heard Holly's voice. "Seems like our plan didn't work..."

The trainer frowned, he figured that May would've been with them, probably just an act all, just like what she said last night, he was sure they'd figure out that he was listening in on them sooner than they would admit.

"Yeah... it's just very obvious now that Ash's doesn't like me…" Came a really depressed voice, not even Ash could claim that was fake-depressed.

"Don't worry; we'll not give up so easily! Ash and you will be together before this wedding is over, I promise!"

The trainer stopped listening to their conversation and lowered his head.

"You stupid girl..." He sighed and continued to walk towards the waiting rodent.

* * *

"You're late, Ash!" Brock stood there with his crossed arms, looking very annoyed. "You should've been here five minutes ago!"

"Wanna make a big deal of it?" The trainer growled with a cold glare at the breeder.

"No, thanks, I'm good!" Brock said hastily and backed away a bit.

"How long is it to town?" Ash yawned and stretched his arms with the rodent.

"Not that far, only about half an hour's walk, maybe." The breeder shrugged.

"Hold on..." Ash raised his hands in front of Brock's face, the breeder was actually starting to get used to it. "You're saying, that we first need to walk for about half an hour... and then we need to transport about fifty chairs back here... on foot!"

"Um..." The breeder hadn't thought of it that way. "Now that you say it..."

The dark trainer sighed and walked past Brock, they were at the parking lot, and there was nobody there apart from them, the owners of the cars were probably either working or enjoying themselves since most of the preparations were done.

"This looks good." Ash stated as he jumped up onto a truck. "Pikachu, you mind?"

The mouse shook its little head, happily, and jumped inside the half-rolled down window, before Brock had a chance to argue. The rodent seemed to be looking for something inside, then they heard a click and Ash opened the door.

"Thank you."

"What do you think you're doing, Ash?" Brock cried out as he ran towards the truck. "That's stealing!"

"Not 'stealing'..." Ash defended himself. "It's more like... borrowing."

"I don't think so, mister!" The breeder crossed his arms and stood in front of the car. "Get out, now!"

"Alright, Brock." Ash sighed. "You have two choices; One, we use this truck, pick up the chairs and then return it... or, Two, you do this alone."

The tanned breeder opened his mouth, frowned, then closed it again and got a bitter look on his face.

"Alright... but no damage to that truck!"

"Who do you think I am?" Ash sounded hurt as he opened the passenger-seat door for Brock. "Come on, get in."

The breeder sighed and got into the big car, he didn't like this at all.

"Alright, where's the key?"

"Who needs a key?" The trainer asked and leaned forward with some kind of metallic object.

Brock's eyes grew wide as he heard some scraping and snapping noises.

"Ash! No damage!"

"He's not going to see this." The trainer tried to calm him down. "I'm going to put it all back together when we're done."

The car's engine started to hack, then it beat in a steady motion... it was alive.

"Alright, here we go!" Ash exclaimed with a smile as he threw in a gear and stepped on the pedal.

And there they went alright... in the wrong direction.

Brock never thought that the sound "CRASH!" would sound so terrible, he slowly turned around, then he quickly closed his eyes when he saw the car that they had crashed into.

"Ash! You said that you could drive!"

"I never said that!" The trainer shook his head. "I didn't think that the difference there was much of a difference between this and a motorcycle…"

"Yeah, yeah..." Brock muttered as he crossed his arms, ignoring the snickering rodent. "Just get us out of here, it's too late to do anything anyway..."

"Whine, whine, that's the only thing I hear..." Ash sighed and pushed in the right gear, so they were off towards Pewter City's city-center.

* * *

"Alright, boys!" Meowth declared in an all-important voice. "Let's do this and-... HEY! Where are you going?"

"(You heard our master.)" Blastoise smiled as he walked off with Butterfree. "(He said that we could continue to see our mates!)"

"Oh, yeah? Well, not while I'm in charge and- gah!" The cat cried out as he was tackled by another pokemon. "Aw, fine! Just go..."

Butterfree and Blastoise laughed at Meowth's misfortune as they walked away from him, leaving Skitty to cuddle up to him.

Sceptile just growled, the master might have approved of this... but he wouldn't forget their treachery so easily...

"(Looks like someone needs to cool down.)" Sceptile's head snapped up at the sound of the fire-pokemon's voice.

"(You're the last person who should be saying that that, bird...)" He growled at her, the twig still in his mouth.

He expected to tick her off, so he would finally have the battle that he had been longing for... but she just laughed.

"(Please, can't you do any better than that?)" Blaziken laughed. "(You know... since the other guys seem to get along pretty well... why don't we give it a try?)"

"(Never...)" The lizard growled as his blades began to glow. "(I'm not like those bloody traitors... I've something called 'honor'!)"

"(Oh, sure.)" Blaziken laughed at him. "(Can't you at least call me by my name?)"

"(Why should I, bitch?)" The lizard spat and took a threatening step towards her.

"(If you do...then I might agree to a sparring-match with you.)" The fire-pokemon smiled as she saw his reaction.

"(Y-You mean that you would fight me, bir-)" He stopped himself at Blaziken's glare. "(Blaziken?)"

"(Good boy.)" She smiled a bit, she thanked Arceus for her red color body for covering the blush on her face. "(Now, I'm going to spar with you... but not too violent, remember that I need to be in good shape for the wedding, okay?)"

"(Okay!)" Sceptile roared happily as he charged towards the fire-pokemon with his leaf at the ready...

* * *

"Stop! We're here!" Shouted Brock over the roar of the engine, Ash stepped on the break as hard as he could. "What's wrong with you!"

"You said stop..." Ash muttered as he leaned towards his seat with closed eyes. "Now, get in there and try to get some chairs... tell me how it went later."

"You said you were going to come with m-"

"Go!"

"Fine..." Brock muttered and walked out of the car, straightening his shirt and cleared his throat before entering the shop.

* * *

The man that sat there could be called overweight, but not necessarily fat, he had a little beer-belly and was bald at the top of his head with a little brown hair at the sides. It seemed like some baby-fat still hadn't disappeared from his face, and he looked rather sweaty, even if it was rather cold in the shop.

He eyed the tanned man with half-closed eyes come into the shop, looking rather nervous...

"Ah, what can I do for you Mr...?"

"Brock, Brock Harrison." The breeder gulped nervously. "I've been here before."

A smile cracked up on the shop-owners face, that seemed to be around the age of 40. "Ah, Mr. Brock... surely I remember you!" He had to use all his willpower to not start and jumping up and down in his chair, he was going to earn some money today... "What can I do for you?"

"Well... you see... the chairs we bought from you-"

"A fine set! Perfect material, can't find similar chairs in Kanto!" The shop-owner smiled at the uncomfortable breeder. "Aren't you happy with them? Did you break them?"

"Well... no... or, yes... but..."

"Say no more, son." The man held up a hand in the breeder's face. "Old Charles here is going to help you!"

"Thanks..." Brock smiled, this might not be so hard after all.

"My pleasure!" The man, Charles, smiled and took out a pen and some paper. "So... you need new chairs... okay, last time you bought sixty sets of them and-"

"Um, actually, it was only fifty... but that's not a big deal!" Brock waved his arms quickly as the man looked hard at him. "It might be a good idea to have some extra!"

"Good boy!" Charles nodded his liking. "You've an eye for business!"

"I do?" The breeder asked curiously.

"Sure you do! You actually convinced me to get a special price for you!" The man laughed loudly as he got up and put his arm around Brock. "Let me tell you this: For fifty chairs, I'll sell the whole lot to you, for only 600 pokedollars, what do you think?"

"But... that's double the price I paid last time and..."

"I see!" Charles laughed heartily. "My bad, and to make it up for my mistake, I'll throw in ten extra chairs! For only fifty extra!"

"I still don't see how this will hel-"

"Are you calling me a liar?" The man seemed to flare up as he grabbed a pokeball out of his drawer. "Where I come from, we learn to respect each other! Didn't any of your parents teach you any manners?"

"No! Or, yes! I mean... I'm sorry!" Brock backed away, really frightened for the man. "I'll take the chairs! I don't want any trouble and-"

"Now that's my kind of people!" The man suddenly changed his mood and patted the breeder hard on the back, making him cough. "Now, just sign here!"

"What's this?" Brock asked hesitantly as he grabbed the pen and looked at the paper.

"Oh, only so you take full responsibility if any chairs break when you use them."

"I see..." Brock didn't even know what he was doing anymore.

"Hold on, Brock, don't let that overgrown Spoink get ya..." Charles looked annoyed at the other man that had entered the shop, with a rodent on his shoulder.

"Excuse me!" The chubby man stated. "We were about to make a deal here... and no pets allowed! So I suggest you leave before I-"

"Throw an empty pokeball at me?" Ash asked with raised eyebrows. "I would like to see you try... Pikachu, check the house."

The rodent nodded and ignored Charles's protests as he darted through the whole building.

"Ash! I'm trying to do business here!" Brock said angrily.

"No, you're trying to pay at least ten times overprice for some sticks that have been glued together..." Ash growled at the chubby man, who seemed to be trying to hide himself behind the counter. "Brock, leave, I'll handle this..."

The breeder gulped and nodded as he hurried out to the truck.

Charles looked up, it seemed like that Brock Harrison was gone and the Pikachu had returned to its master's shoulder as the man stood there and stared at him.

"I want to buy fifty-five chairs." The man wondered if the dark haired man ever blinked.

"B-But your friend said f-fifty!" Charles declared, he didn't like making deals with people who seemed sure about themselves.

"Who are you talking to? Me, or him?" Ash growled along with his rodent, making the man back up against the wall.

"Y-You, sir." The man gulped.

"Good, now..." Ash walked closer to the man, towards the counter. "I want this clear, I don't give a shit about how you run your pathetic little store... but when I'm here I want it to run the way I want it, without any of those idiotic salesman things... if I so much as hear you try and use that salesman-talk on me... well, let's say that I'll remove the rest of your hair... and not just the ones on your head..."

The man gulped even louder as he tried to back up even closer to the wall. "I-I-I understand!"

"That's nice... go on, tell me the price." Ash encouraged him with a little smile that was impossible to read.

"W-Well... for you, a special price of-"

The man cried out in terror as Ash grabbed him by his suit-collar.

"I said: No Tauros-shit!" Ash roared in the man's face, making him tremble. "Enough with the special price, enough with the bargains, no more shit!"

"Alright!" The man cried out. "I'll sell you fifty-five chairs for sixty pokedollars!"

"Believe it or not, it's actually too expensive for that bloody shit that you're selling..." Ash growled, but he stopped the man from trying to talk. "I'll take it, and you better have them ready right now!"

"Y-Yes, sir!" The man gulped and ran into the storage room of the shop. "Should I carry them out for you?"

"Use that girl that's been hiding here during our visit, I'm sure that it will go faster and your wife will probably not even notice her!" Ash shouted into the storage with a wide grin on his lips.

* * *

"I still don't get how you did it..." Brock seemed to ponder as they were driving home with fifty-five new chairs in the back of the truck. "Not only did you get to pay about one pokedollar for each chair... you also convinced the man to tell his mistress to help him load the chairs onto the truck... and how did you even know that he was married?"

"Easy, grab him by the collar so he wets himself. "Ash answered on Brock's first question. "And I had Pikachu scout the building for me, and he can smell everything, and since the girl was half the guy's age I could only guess that she wasn't his wife."

"But how did you even know that he was married?"

"He didn't have a ring." Ash smiled at Brock's questioning look. "You could see a faint, white, mark on his finger, in the form of a ring. And since he couldn't help fidgeting with that finger when he was nervous... well, that only proves that he used to have something there."

"Why couldn't he be divorced?"

"Because then he wouldn't have been touching that finger... he would also be more sure of himself.

"Are you saying that-"

"Yes, Brock. I'm saying that you get weaker by getting married." Ash stated and closed his eyes.

"That's your opinion. Just, open your eyes... or we're going to crash!"

"Whine, whine, whine..." Ash growled and kept his focus on the road.

* * *

Soon they were back at Pewter City's Gym, and Brock got help with unloading the things off, Ash refused to help them and walked towards the place where his pokemon should be.

He stopped as soon as they came into view, his eyes widened along with the rodent's.

"What/Pi... the/ka... bloody/ch... hell/uu...?" Was the collective sound of the trainer and his faithful partner.

They walked a little closer, because they hoped that their eyes were fooling them from that distance. But they weren't...

Two turtles were swimming in a little pond, really close to each other and seemed to be enjoying every moment of it.

The two bug-pokemon were circling around each other, looking like they didn't have a care in the world.

The two cat-pokemon were lying together in some kind of ball, rubbing their heads against each other as well as grooming each other from time to time.

But the thing that shocked him the most was his lizard, one of his most powerful warriors was now having a fun-battle with a fire-pokemon! And he seemed to be enjoying it greatly!

Ash shook his head in disappointment, this just couldn't continue.

He opened his mouth to shout orders at them, but he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"No, Ash." The beautiful brunette walked up to him with a sigh. "Don't you think they deserve a little love in their lives? How long are you going to keep them from that?"

"'Love' is a luxury we can't have in my team." Ash said with an emotionless face as he continued to look at the pokemon, not caring that Pikachu had jumped off his shoulders.

"Look at them, Ash." May said with a voice that was as emotionless as Ash's face. "They're happy, they enjoy each others' company... I remember that you did too."

"That was a long time ago."

"But you felt it, you felt it and you loved it."

Ash opened his mouth, but closed it after and started to mutter to himself.

May couldn't help than to smile a little bit, she tiptoed and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"What was that for?" The emotionless tone in Ash's voice was almost scary.

"I'm happy that you're back, Ash... I missed you." May whispered with a voice that would melt every guy's heart, she then ran to her pokemon, recalled them and continued to run the other way.

Ash sighed, why does everything happen to him all the time?

"Pika? Pikachu, PikaPi?" The little rodent walked up to his master with a questioning look.

"No, Pikachu, I'm fine..." Ash muttered, he then looked towards his pokemon. "I'm just going to teach them a little lesson, then we need to rest. We're going to need every bit of strength tomorrow if we want to survive this thing..."

The rodent nodded and ran after his master, but he couldn't help but feel that something had changed with his PikaPi... and he didn't know whether he liked it or not...

* * *

"May!" The beautiful brunette, who had a slightly red face, stopped and looked towards the group of girls that was coming towards her. "We got it! We know the perfect plan to make Ash fall for you! All you need to do is-"

"Thanks, Holly..." May smiled a bit, slightly bothered. "But, no thanks... I think I've done everything I can. You can't change a person's feelings."

"So, that's it... you're giving up?" Holly asked with a frown, Dawn got a sad look on her face.

"I don't know... maybe I am, maybe I'm not." She only winked at her friends before she continued to walk towards the house, not bothering to look back at their confused expressions.

**End of chapter 16**

**

* * *

**

**Well... will there be advanceshipping, or will Ash's stubborn and dark attitude drive May away from him? What do you think?**

**I'm not putting any pressure on that you need to review this chapter, it would only be nice if you did it.**

**Quiz Time: What movie do Paul's and Brock's conversation, "Wake up dead", come from?**

**It's better to review later than never and I'll be seeing you in the next chapter!**

**R&R!  
**


	17. Chapter 17

**Alright! Here's the last chapter of the story! How will it end? See for yourselves :P**

**But, you must be warned: There'll be some extreme 'corniness' moments between Holly and Brock (Ash and May? We'll see...)!**

**Now, for the little quiz: Yeah, it was Scary Movie 3, not that hard, eh? ;)**

**It seems like accidentally put up some AshxSabrina moments... I think I can tell you right away that that shipping is not likely that the chapter will end with... tried to make it like they hated each other's guts! :/**

**I don't really know what else to say... I want to thank you guys so far for helping me with this story (and to Justicez for taking extra long time to help me with the wedding!)!**

**Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review at the end of it!**

**R&R!  
**

* * *

"Where's Ash? I can't find him!"

"Has anyone seen the bride?"

"Mom! I need help with my dress!"

There was a hectic rush at the Harrisons' estate, people ran back and forth, trying to get things done last minute.

"Ash! Where are you?" Brock cried out as soon as he had come out of the house. "It's time for you to get dressed! The wedding's in about two hours!"

* * *

"Then we have plenty of time, don't you think?" Ash asked his cat, Meowth, as they lay on the grass, looking at Pikachu who was trying to catch a Diglett that kept popping its head out of the ground.

"Sure, boss." Meowth answered him halfheartedly, the harsh words from Ash still echoed in his head.

"Hey, I'm sorry, okay?" Ash sighed and got up as he looked at the cat seriously. "Maybe I was too harsh, but I left you in charge of the team, so I expected some kind of discipline while I was gone. I didn't expect that you guys would be running around and... Arceus knows! What will happen if one of her pokemon gets an egg, huh?"

"Alright, boss, calm down." Meowth shook his head and glared at his master. "You know, you've never acted like this before... I would even go so far as to say that you're insecure and jealous!"

"You're saying that I want to mate with a pokemon?" Ash asked with a look of disgust on his face, causing Pikachu to snicker.

"No! I'm saying that you're jealous... we might be mating with the pokemon... but you want their trainer!"

"I swear, Meowth, one more word about that and I'll put you in your pokeball..." Ash growled as his eyes flashed dangerously.

"Oh, well, it was worth a try." The cat shrugged. "_Gotta tell Skitty that our plan didn't work..._"

"Besides, Pikachu isn't acting like a horny pokemon!" Ash stated with a proud look at his rodent, who gave him something that looked like a thumbs-up, Pikachu-style.

"That's because he's as stubborn as you, boss..." Meowth sighed, then a smirk appeared on his face. "And I thought that you didn't want to talk about it!"

"Well, I don't." Ash stated with a neutral tone. "I just... had it on my mind, that's all..."

"Right..."

"Okay, you can just shut your bloody mouth before I volunteer you as a flower pokemon!" Ash barked at him, causing the cat shiver at the thought. "How would you like that?"

"Alright, alright!" The cat shook his head. "I'm sorry, okay? I won't mention it again..."

"Good." Ash nodded, ignoring the rodent who was rolling around, laughing. "Come on, guys, the sooner we start this the sooner we can go."

"How does that even make sense?" Meowth asked with a frown.

"It isn't supposed to, let's go." The dark trainer yawned and got up; he then started to walk towards the house.

* * *

"Where have you been?" Ash was starting to grow tired of the shouting breeder. "Do you even know how long I've been waiting here?"

"Yes, one hour, twelve minutes and twenty-two seconds." Ash nodded along with Meowth. "We killed some time by watching you scream yourself to death... Meowth won the bet."

"You've great lungs, Old-Twerp!" Meowth stated happily as he received the money from Ash, he quickly put it in a pocket on Ash's backpack. "I'm going to make a fortune here!"

"Yeah, yeah... no need to brag about it." Ash mumbled rather sullenly, he hated to giving away money that easily.

"Anyway, you're late for your costumes!" Brock cried out in a rush and started to push them towards a tent, that Ash hadn't seen around before, that stood a little discretely behind the large marquee. "We put this up some hours ago, the boys will get dressed here while the girls will get dressed in the house."

"Why? I thought it was only tradition that the bride and groom shouldn't see each other!" Ash stated angrily as he was pushed into the slight darker area.

"I know, I know." Brock sighed. "But they just don't feel comfortable changing around you guys and-"

"Right... they don't feel comfortable changing around US... what about you, Mr. Grand-Pervert?" Ash asked with an evil smirk as he looked at the gray clothes-hangers. "Seems a little empty in here..."

"Yes, almost everybody's done... there's only you, me, Gary and Barry that isn't ready yet." Brock sighed once more.

"Why aren't Barry and Gary ready?" Ash asked with a frown. He had actually lost a little, like really minutely, of his grudge against Barry, he figured that the blond trainer had almost paid for his 'sins'... almost.

"Because..." Brock groaned in frustration. "They're busy trying to spy on the girls as they get changed!"

"How did that go for them?" Ash asked with a wide smile as he thought about it.

"Not too bad, according to them, they managed to see some things... then Sabrina felt them and threw them out from the third floor of the house." The breeder shivered at the thought. "However, they refuse to give up."

"I see..."

"Alright, can you bring Pikachu here?"

"Su- wait a minute... what are you planning on doing with him?" Ash demanded as he glared at the uncomfortable breeder.

"Well... you see... not ONLY do the humans have to be dressed for the occasion..." He chuckled nervously. "Each person has to, if possible, have one pokemon that's dressed too... however, those who'll be standing next to me or Holly will have to have two pokemon out each."

"Yeah? Why should you put a sack over Pikachu's head then?" Ash asked with a glare. "My history may be a little rusty... but I thought that clothes for pokemon weren't invented until a couple of years ago, when some kind of idiot thought it would be 'fun' and 'cute' to see them sweat and suffer and-"

"Alright! That may be true..." Brock sighed, "But that's what we've decided... we even chose a costume for them already."

"Oh, and you picked costumes for MY pokemon without MY input? Nice...!" Ash spat and was about to walk out of the tent. "Cya, Brock, we're out of here!"

"Wait!" The trainer slowly turned around. "Would it be so bad to even see the costume?"

"Well... I guess it wouldn't hurt." Ash shrugged and walked back to the breeder.

"Alright, as I said before, we will start with Pikachu." The breeder smiled at the little rodent, who got an uncomfortable feeling in his little stomach.

The mouse watched the tall man walk up to a chest, open it and...

The little rodent froze as he saw the breeder pull out a checkered white and blue knitted woolen hat with a white bobble on the top, that didn't look that bad, he might use it and-... he watched in horror as he saw that the breeder was still rummaging through the chest.

The breeder then picked up some kind of shirt that had the same pattern and color as the hat... and, finally, two small red shoes with the same bobbles at the tip...

However, Pikachu smiled calmly, there was no way in hell that his PikaPi would expose the little mouse to that, all he had to do was to look frightened and they could leave anytime and-... his PikaPi was smiling at him with a smile that the little Pikachu wasn't too fond of...

"Well... it has never hurt to try it on, ain't that right, Pikachu?" Ash roared with laughter together with Meowth as they imagined the rodent in those clothes.

"Pika...chuu..." The little rodent cooed sadly as Brock quickly put the clothes on him, making him want to melt away in embarrassment.

"Perfect!" Meowth laughed for all he was worth as he finally saw the little rodent in the costume.

"Just laugh, it's your turn now and-... hey, where did they go?" Pikachu looked around with the breeder, it looked like PikaPi and Meowth had cleared the tent, leaving him there to his misery.

"Alright then... I'm sure they'll be back." Brock smiled weakly. "Pikachu, would you mind going to fetch Barry and Gary? I want them to get dressed too."

The rodent gulped at the thought of going out there, humans and pokemon would laugh at him! But he lowered his head, feeling the wave of shame pass over him as he walked out into the sun...

* * *

"What do you reckon, Meowth?" Ash whispered to him as they were hiding behind a bush, looking towards the big house. "What's your bet?"

"Hmm..." The cat seemed to think a bit, then he smiled. "Three, Third-Twerpette, First-Twerpette and Plant-Twerpette... First-Twerpette's going to throw something at them."

"Really? I beg to differ..." Ash smirked and thought a bit. "Four, Dawn, Misty, Erika and Casey, the witch's going to throw a chair at them."

"Deal!" They shook han-... hands and paws.

They continued to watch as the two males, both around Ash's age, one with blond hair and the other with brown hair, sneaked up towards the house very stealthily, they each took a bucket that they were carrying and them under the window and stood on them, slowly lifting themselves up a little bit to look through the window.

"Five... four... three... two... one..." At one, you could hear someone scream, "Dawn..." And another, "Misty...", and another, "Erika..."and …silence. "Damn it!"

"The money, please." Meowth smirked and held out his paw.

"Not yet, it's not over..."

True, the screams woke the house and various people started shouting, the two males outside seemed to be at a loss as to what to do as they ran back and forth between the two windows, not knowing what to do.

"This is it..."

"Crash!" Was the sound that resounded across the area as two chairs flew out from said windows, hitting the two males on the head.

"Ha! We're even!" Ash cheered a bit to himself, until Meowth held up his paw.

"Hold it..."

True to word, an orange head then poked out of the window, holding another projectile in her hand.

"And don't let me see you around here again!" The water-type gym leader, Misty, yelled as she waved the chair over her head.

"Bloody hell!" Ash cursed and handed Meowth the money. "How do you always get it right!"

"What can I say?" The cat smirked and put the money in his pocket on Ash's backpack. "I know what's going to happen before it really does..."

"Yeah, right..." The dark trainer muttered.

"Ash?" The trainer's head snapped up as he looked at Max behind him, dressed in some kind of bard-outfit, looking like a bigger version of what he had worn during the castle-tournament all those years ago.

"Yeah?" Ash just couldn't bring himself to be rude to the boy, not after what he had been through...

"Brock wanted me to tell Holly and the girls that everything's ready... but... but I..."

"It's alright." Ash nodded understanding. "I'll do it, you can run back... here, take Meowth with you."

"Boss, I would like to say that I disapprove disapprove of that order and-"

"Noted, Meowth... now, get the hell out of here."

The cat sighed and followed the young gym leader's apprentice, agreeing to wait outside the tent until his boss returned.

"Now... let's do this..." Ash growled and started to walk towards the door, passing Barry and Gary as who were running in the opposite direction, with their hands on the newly formed lumps on their head.

A few steps to the door Ash started to feel hesitation... he, against all those girls, including that witch?... no chance... oh, well, you had to die some day...

He pushed down the handle on the door and stepped in, surveying his environment quickly. Everything appeared clear.

He could hear loud voices around the house, he decided to follow the one who he recognized as Holly's.

The trainer walked up the stairs, then turning left before stopping in front of one of the doors.

"_Knocking's for suckers..._" Ash thought with a slight smile and stepped right inside.

A second later, his tympanic membrane regretted his decision...

"ASH!" At least five girls shouted at him as he stepped in, he could recognized Erika and Holly inside. "Some of us aren't even dressed yet!"

"Don't worry." The trainer assured them. "I've seen it all, the only difference is the sizes..." He expected a slap on the cheek, but he guessed the girls were too embarrassed to do anything.

He shrugged and made his way through the girls, some of them only wearing only a towel or less... he walked up to Holly, who was busy with covering herself with the closest thing she could find.

"Brock says that everything's ready." Ash almost yawned a bit, the girls didn't know how they should take his actions. "How's it at your front?"

"P-pardon?" Holly stuttered with a beet-red face.

"I said: Are you done yet? I want to get moving here." Ash sighed, why couldn't people ever understand him?

"Does it LOOK like we're ready, Ash?" Erika asked with a frown as she waved her hands over her head to emphasize her point... causing her towel to fall off, herself to shriek, Ash to smile, and the other girls to shout.

"Well... if you ask me, I would say that you're ready." He nodded happily.

"Ash, we'll be done in about half an hour... tell Brock that." Holly sighed, she didn't think Ash's antics were either funny or embarrassing anymore. "Go now, please?"

"Alright." The trainer shrugged and turned around, smiling at a girl with yellow hair. He then turned around when he reached the door with a little smirk. "How about a group picture?"

"GET OUT!" All the girls roared at him with all their might, making the trainer close the door quickly after himself, in case someone decided to throw something at him.

* * *

"Why is he always late?" Brock asked nobody in particular, though Meowth took it as his job to defend his boss.

The breeder, Brock, was dressed in a big, red and furry mantle that reached to the floor, he had a regal looking crown on his head, he was dressed in a red and black polo-shirt and brown spandex pants with a pair of red boots rounding up the ensemble... Meowth had to use all his willpower to not laugh at him, although he was sure that his boss wouldn't tease the Old-Twerp for his dress-sense.

"Don't worry, Old-Twerp." The cat smiled assuringly at him. "He may be late sometimes, but he's never too late!"

"I see..." The breeder hesitated, then a thought struck him. "Hey, how come you call me 'Old-Twerp'? Didn't you use that name for Ash last time?... and what's with the 'Twerp'-names anyway?"

"The boss is the boss." Meowth explained like he was talking to a three year old. "And, you're the oldest Twerp... therefore, you're the 'Old-Twerp'!"

"And since Misty is the first girl you saw with Ash it that makes her the 'First-Twerp'?"

"No!" Meowth shook his head. "It makes her the 'First-Twerpette!"

"How does that even makes sense?"

"How do your eyes make sense?" Meowth shot back with an evil smirk.

Brock simply ignored the jab and continued to look around for Ash, whom he finally spotted.. "There he is!"

"Did I miss something?" Ash asked with a questioning look as he approached them... Meowth was probably the only one who noticed the slight smirk Ash had as he looked at Brock.

"Not really... why? Did we miss something?"

"Brock, you have no idea!" Ash laughed as he passed him. "How's it going, Meowth?"

"Awesome, boss!" The cat cheered. "Old-Twerp has showed me what we're going to wear... it looks great!"

"Really?" Ash asked with a raised eyebrow. "Why's that?"

"I'll show you..." Brock smiled and took forth two different set of clothes.

Meowth's pile consisted of two big, brown boots, a red handkerchief and a purple hat with a light-blue brim, it also had a feather sticking out from it... Brock handed him also a sheathed rapier...

Ash's pile consisted of a black cape, a blue sleeveless shirt, a gray under-shirt, gray pants, a pair of big blue boots, a black hat with a blue brim with some kind of yellow mark on it that looked like a Pidgeot's eye, it was a rather strange hat, it had a pointy end on the front and the back of it... but the thing that caught Ash's interest the most were the gloves: they were blue in color and went up to his elbows, surrounded by some yellow lines and, on top of them, was a semi spherical crystal.

"Boss..." Meowth grinned from ear to ear. "Do you know what this means?"

"Yes..." Ash grinned back. "We've weapons! We can finally take down that witch!"

"Alright!" Meowth cheered and drew his rapier, that wobbled a bit... "What the hell? It's made of plastic!"

"So are the crystals!" Ash exclaimed with an annoyed tone as he looked at the gloves, he then turned his head towards Brock. "Brock... what... the... bloody... hell... do... you... think... you're... doing...?"

"W-Well..." The breeder stammered. "I'm giving you your clothes!"

"Okay, then why not the real thing!" Ash barked at him with anger in his eyes, making the breeder back away slightly. "How do you think we could defeat that witch if we don't have the right equipment?"

"Well, first off:" Brock growled back. "You're NOT going to kill anyone on my wedding-day... secondly: Do you know it's near impossible to find the original gloves? They don't exist!"

"Yes, they do..." Ash muttered and made a mental note to go to that big tree and collect them some day. "Alright... guess I can't win them all... when's this stupid thing starting?"

"Not long, only a few more minutes before we begin." Brock nodded as he looked at his watch, which had Aipom-hands... "We better get going, it brings bad luck if we get to the meeting spot after the bride."

"Says who?" Ash frowned a bit, but he called Meowth and Pikachu to himself and followed Brock.

"Says ME!" Ash was actually quite impressed at Brock's way of trying to take command here. "Let's go!"

"After you..." The trainer yawned again; this was going to be a long day...

* * *

"Come on, Holly!" May shouted, knocking on the door to her private room.

No answer...

May tried again, harder this time... nothing happened , but she could hear heavy breathing in there.

The beautiful brunette opened the door, to check on her best friend.

There she was, sitting in a chair, looking at herself in the mirror.

"Holly? The wedding will start in twenty minutes, we need to get going!" May smiled sweetly at her. "The pokemon are ready, the girls are ready, and the guests are here... you're the only one left and we can start!"

"I-I can't!" Holly exclaimed, she wasn't crying, but she was breathing heavily and she had a distressed look on her face. "I can't get married!"

"Why not?" May asked, a smile still on her face, she knew that this kind of things were normal occurrences before weddings.

"Brock..." Holly sighed and put her hands under her head, supporting it on the table. "You know how he is... was... like, what happens if he changes again?"

"What makes you say that?" May asked with a small frown.

"At our party... why would he spy on me?... I don't get it..." Holly sobbed a little bit. "Doesn't he trust me? Should I trust him? Wh-"

"Holly! It's okay!" May stroked her hair, but took care not to mess up her hair. "I know that you can trust Brock, I've known him for even longer than you have! And I promise you that he'll live up to all your expectations... maybe even surpass them!"

"But-"

"No 'Buts', young lady!" May turned around and saw Lola, Brock's mother, and Sabrina standing at the door. "Do you want to know why Brock spied on you? It's a family tradition! Every time someone gets married in the Harrison family, the groom takes a couple of friends and tries to spy on the girls!... although they need to take their punishment if they get caught..."

"What..." May was stunned. "What kind of tradition is that...?"

"Oh, just something that started several generations ago that just stuck!" Lola chirped happily as she walked up to Holly. "But, Holly, seriously, Brock's NEVER going to betray you, he loves you with all his heart, and he would never... EVER, do such stupid thing... especially not since your father's an Elite Four!"

The last sentence managed to make Holly laugh a bit, she sniffed one more time, looked down, and then up again with a shining smile.

"You're right... let's go and get this marriage started!"

"Hold it, young lady!" Lola held up a hand in front of May and Holly as they were about to walk out. "Think a little, how can you possibly walk in the dirt with those dresses?"

The two girls froze, they had completely forgotten about that!

"What... what do we do then?" Holly asked nervously.

"Easy, that's why I brought Sabrina!" Lola stated happily as she made a motion towards the quiet psychic. "She will teleport us there!... Rhonda's already waiting for us there."

"Alright, let's go!" the girls cheered as Sabrina's eyes started to glow red.

* * *

"Let me get this straight..." Ash said after a while. "You have nothing but a white sheet between you in this room..." He made a motion to the 'room' they were in, there was a flap that led to the big marquee. "Then, when the whole thing starts... I'm supposed to offer May my arm, with one each of my pokemon and hers going before and after us... then your parents will come next, and after that Holly's... and, then, when you come in, this thing can begin?"

"That's right!" Brock nodded happily. "You remember everything?"

"Sure, and if I don't... I'll improvise!" Ash smirked, as Pikachu and Meowth laughed.

"Please... don't do that..." Brock pleaded.

"Alright... damn... what kind of idiot decided these bloody things?"

"Our family, several generations ago." Flint stated as he stood next to Lucian, he walked up to his son and gave him a hug. "Good luck, kid... I'm proud of you!"

"Thanks, dad!" Brock smiled as Ash fought to stay awake as the wait was starting to get to him.

"You take care of my daughter now, okay?" Lucian smiled and shook Brock's hand, making the breeder sniffle a bit.

"Yes, sir, I promise!"

"Can we PLEASE get this thing going?" Ash sighed. "Isn't it bad enough that the girls haven't come yet? How long can those-"

"I'm here!" Came a voice from the other side, Ash recognized it as the former TV-reporter, Rhonda's voice.

"Apart from you..." Ash sighed, and as if on cue he saw it come a flash on the other side of the sheet, making Rhonda cry out in surprise.

"Girls! You made it!" Rhonda cried out happily, Ash could hear some kind of nuzzling sound on the other side. "You're so big Holly! My little baby's going to get married today!"

"Please... someone... kill me..." Ash whispered to himself as he could hear the mothers cry on the other side of the sheet.

As though a response to his question, the music started and the flap was held open. It was the wedding march... and Ash hated it...

"Quick, Ash!" Brock whispered hastily to him. "Pick a pokemon who's going to go in front of you."

"Right..." Ash thought quickly. "Alright... Pikachu, you take the front, Meowth, you take the rear, got it?"

"Got it/Pika, boss/PikaPi!" The two pokemon shouted simultaneously. Ash nodded, pleased.

"Alright, Pikachu." Brock looked at the little rodent dressed in a cute jester-costume. "It's tradition that you walk there first, then the other pokemon will come and stand at your side and you'll walk out together, you know the rest?"

"Pika!" The rodent nodded as Flint passed the rodent a pillow with two rings on it and ran up to the entrance.

The rodent couldn't help but hear the women's' quiet squeals when they saw him, but he simply ignored them and waited for his partner.

He could feel something brush against him slightly on its way to him and looked to see a blueish pokemon dressed in a very small, pink, dress, with a red ribbon tied around her neck.

Pikachu looked a at Glaceon, then at PikaPi with a look that only he and PikaPi understood, the trainer gave him a short nod, with a slightly troubled smile.

The rodent, on the other hand, let out a great smile and placed himself closer to the fox-pokemon, and then they walked out to the 'awwws' of everybody in the room.

Meowth could see his boss take a deep breath, Ash seemed really nervous... not that the cat wasn't nervous himself...

The aura-user walked towards the opening, stopping there and held out his left arm, a hard look on his face.

Ash could feel a soft hand, followed by a soft arm, clutching tightly to his arm.

The trainer couldn't take it anymore, he slowly turned his head towards the girl that he was about to escort down the isle...

The girl next to him was wearing a red, silken knee length dress, with a broad golden waistband. Her hair fell mid way down her back, and when she moved it seemed like a sparkling waterfall that cascaded down in calm peaceful waves. The dress also had a golden floral design on the front. Every guy would not be able to take their eyes off her... and Ash was no exception this time...

Ash looked at her slender legs, all the way down to her feet(clad in some simple white heels), he was actually starting to feel quite sweaty...

He gulped and looked at the brunette's face, she was beaming when she looked at him, refusing to shy away, she made a nod towards the isle, Ash got the hint and started to lead her... receiving several gasps from the people they passed as the Aura Guardian and the Princess walked down the isle...

Meowth's eyes were wide, he did NOT just see that!

"Meowth, it's your turn... hey, what's the matter?" Brock asked with a small frown as he shook the cat a bit.

"I... I..." The cat shook his head once again, causing the feather on his hat to wiggle a bit. "I think... I just saw the boss... blush..."

"Really?" The breeder smirked, but then he shook his own head. "Never mind that, it's your turn now."

The cat nodded and moved to his position, where he awaited a pokemon whom he was pretty sure he knew who it was going to be...

True to his prediction, he could feel a head rub against him, making him pat the pink cat with a happy look on his face.

Skitty was wearing a similar dress as Glaceon, the only difference was that the red ribbon was tied around the cat's ear instead of its neck.

"Let's go, Skitty!" Meowth smiled and led her out towards their trainers.

"Alright, dad, you're up next." Brock whispered to his father, who was dressed as a peasant, wearing only a washed-out white shirt and brown pants.

Flint nodded with a smile before he gave his son another hug and walked out with his wife, who was wearing a yellow medieval style dress.

Brock looked at Lucian, the only one apart from him left. "Well, are you ready, sir?"

"Brock..." Lucian smiled and took him into a hug. "Call me Lucian, please and... take care of my daughter..."

"I will." The breeder smiled and watched as the elite four walked out with his wife, dressed like a nobleman with his wife.

Brock sighed, it was his turn soon... only Ash and May walked with pokemon since they would be some kind of representative for both sides, that they swore on their closest friends or something like that... he should have paid attention when Holly explained it to him.

Now, it was his turn, he didn't have any time to worry as he walked into position and held out his arm, waiting for a certain someone to take the offered arm.

He could feel his beloved's arms around his and turned his head to see her.

There she was, beaming at him with happiness. She wore a medieval ball gown with a waist-band that formed a big bow on the back, the sleeves hung a little off her shoulders, exposing a little of her bare arms. Her hair was done in a French braid... Brock couldn't find any better words to describe her beauty, this was the moment that he had dreamed of, and it was about to get even better.

The breeder had always laughed at the guys who cried at their own weddings, but he regretted it as he felt tears build up in his eyes.

"Let's get married now, shall we?" Holly leaned up and whispered in his ear, her hot breath lightly tickling his skin.

The breeder nodded with an extremely happy smile and led her towards the altar.

They walked and they walked, neither of them wanting it to end. The only time Brock's smile faltered was when he saw Ash discretely hand Meowth something, as soon as they saw the breeder's face. But, Brock's smile was soon there once again as he continued to walk towards the altar, where the priest was awaiting them.

It was a traditional altar, the priest stood on a small platform at the front, Brock and Holly were to stand directly in front of him, Ash and May stood on either side of the spot where the soon to be wedded couple should stand, Ash looking straight out towards the crowd, smirking at someone, while May couldn't take her eyes off Ash, and just stood and starting at him, except for the time when she shot a wink at Holly.

Brock looked discretely behind his shoulder to see who Ash was smirking at, and he could see the psychic-master sitting there looking rather irritated... perhaps it wasn't Brock's wisest idea to dress Ash as an Aura Guardian...

Pikachu and Meowth stood in front of Ash as Glaceon and Skitty stood in front of May, and to the side of the altar stood Flint, Lola, Lucian and Rhonda, all of the smiling widely at their (not so small) children.

Brock felt a lump in his throat again as he stepped up to the altar facing the priest.

Holly and Brock turned to face each other as they kept their hands held, refusing to let go.

The holy man cleared his throat before he started.

"My friends!" He had to almost shout so everybody could hear him. "We've been gathered here today to unite Brock Harrison and Holly Williams in holy matrimony. Now, if anyone opposes this union, speak now or forever hold your peace."

There was an eerie silence in the marquee at those words, even if there was someone who had something against it, he/she wouldn't have the courage to speak for fear of being mauled by everyone else.

"Very well." The priest nodded. "Ever since the almighty pokemon, Arceus, created earth..." Brock stopped listening to the priest as something distracted him, he thought he heard some kind of soft smacking sound. He looked discretely towards the side and saw Meowth sheathing his plastic-sword and Ash rubbing his knee, glaring at the cat.

Brock shook his head in slight amusement as he turned his attention back to Holly and the priest.

"And, then he created the Rattatas." The priest finished with a calm smile, causing some of the people in the audience to nod and some of the others to face-palm. "Now, do you, Brock Harrison, take this woman, Holly Williams, to be your lawfully wedded wife, Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protecther, forsaking all others andholding _only_ unto her ?"

"I do!" Brock nodded, ignoring Ash who he saw was shaking his head out of the corner of his eye.

The priest nodded happily. "And, do you, Holly Williams, take Brock Harrison, to be your lawfully wedded husband, Do you promise to love, honor_,_cherish and protect him, forsaking all others and holding only unto him?"

"I do." Holly almost whispered with a big smile.

"We will now have the exchanging of the rings, Brock Harrison, if you please?" The priest stated as Pikachu carried the pair of rings on a pillow towards the couple.

Brock reached with one hand out to pick one as he used the other to grasp Holly's hand. He smiled as he slowly slid it onto her left ring finger, all the while lightly rubbing her hand. The crowed all "aww"-ed at the sight. Holly repeated the gesture on Brock, all the while with tears streaming down her face.

"Very good, by the powers vested in me by Arceus, I do pronounce you husband and wife, you may now kiss the bride!"

The whole church exploded with cheers and Brock and Holly had their first kiss as husband and wife.

* * *

Ash could only watch with a slightly tilted head as they cheered and celebrated... perhaps a wedding didn't just mean negative things... perhaps there were good things about unions like this... he felt a hand on the shoulder and saw the priest standing there with a smile on his face.

"Take my advice, my son." He smiled even wider. "Don't let it go to waste, you've too much to live for and you deserve this."

"What are you talking about?" Ash asked, but the priest had suddenly disappeared, and was nowhere to be found.

The trainer looked at the newly wedded couple, who were currently being swamped by well wishers.

"Should I...?" The trainer pondered as he looked. "Eh, what the hell?"

He walked up to the breeder and, to Brock's surprise, took him into a bone-crushing hug. "Congratulations, Brock, didn't thought you had it in you!"

"T-Thanks, Ash!" The breeder laughed and hugged him back. "I'll be forever thankful that you came!"

"Alright, that's enough." Ash took a step back as the breeder tried to hug him a second time, causing said breeder to laugh and move onto his father instead.

"Well, boss." The cat smirked as he jumped onto his trainer's left shoulder, with Pikachu on the other one. "There's such a tumult that nobody would notice you leave... you can still escape the dance!"

Ash thought for a bit, his face was unreadable as he contemplated. "Eh, I've hugged Brock today... I can't make more of a fool out of me now, can I?" His two companions only laughed.

* * *

It took at least an hour before everyone had finally wished the married couple, people had a tendency of trying to be the first one to congratulate the wedded couple, making it awfully tight at the altar...

But they finally moved out to the bigger tent, where a big table had been placed, filled with a huge pile of presents for Brock and Holly.

The couple got a glint in their eyes as they looked at the pile of unopened boxes that was laying there. And just like the wishing, everyone wanted them to open their present first.

Everyone except for Ash that is, he was looking for a chair, or something he could sit down on. According to Brock, the present opening session would take at least half an hour, making it a perfect time for him to take a little nap...

Suddenly, a big ball of fire was shot into the air, followed by a silvery wind and a beam of water colliding into it making glittering words in the air which said: "Congratulations B&H!" Ash raised his eyebrows slightly, impressed by the stunt. He looked around and saw everyone praising the slightly embarrassed May, as it was her pokemon that had done it.

There followed a performance of other lighting and explosions that turned into the most unimaginable things, but the people didn't pay that much attention to it, it was time for presents!

"Let's see... this is from Dawn and Scott!" Holly declared as she lifted up a package, they ripped it open and laughed a bit at the card that was laying in the box, seemed like the little boy had tried to take on the quest to write something. Inside the box laid a gift card for three dresses from Dawn's company, which was worth an awful lot since they were really expensive, there was also a cookbook in the box, which Brock took offence to.

Many presents later, Brock told Holly to continue while he went looking for his Best Man. The breeder made his way through the crowd, to the chair where Ash was resting with his eyes half-shut.

"Hi, Ash!" Brock smiled at him. "Aren't you going to join us? We're about to open your present!"

"You'll be surprised..." He could see Ash smirk under the hat that he had put on his face.

"Really? What's in it?" Brock asked with a rather amused smile, knowing that Ash wouldn't tell him under pain of de-

"Three pornographic magazines and your book of the world's hottest women." Ash stated with a neutral voice, causing Brock to pale.

"You, come with me, quick!" He jerked Ash up from the chair and ran towards the table. "Ho-"

"Brock! Look what Ash gave us!" Holly laughed as she held up the little box. "Incense! And good quality ones too! It must've cost a fortune!"

The breeder stopped dead in his track and looked at the trainer with his head tilted in confusion.

"You're welcome." Ash slowly stated after the breeder had stared at him for a few seconds, making the breeder shake his head and smile a goofy smile.

"Right, thank you so much!" Brock tried to hug him, but Ash held out his hands.

"I've hugged you twice this year, thank you." He then made his way back to the chair, where Surge and Paul were waiting on him.

"Hey, guys, what's happening?" Ash yawned a bit as he slumped down in his chair.

"Nothing much... waiting for the dance." Surge stated with a broad smile. "Since I've heard some rumors that our little trainer is going to dance with a beautiful coordinator!"

"Watch it..." Ash growled at him, ignoring Paul's chuckling.

"Come on, Ash." Paul laughed. "I saw your face in there, you may can deny it all you want... but you enjoyed it!"

"Speaking of denial..." Now it was Ash's turn to smirk as he looked at Paul. "When're you going to take responsibility of your son?"

The pyramid master froze and Surge stopped laugh immediately.

"'Son'?" The gym leader asked with a frown. "What's he talking about, sonny?"

"H-How did you know?" Paul asked with wide eyes as he ignored Surge and looked at Ash.

"Pretty simple." Ash smiled and nodded towards the little blue-haired child that was running around. "He has your eyes, and your intellect..."

"Now, HOLD ON!" Lt. Surge barked. "You're telling me that HE…" Pointed at Paul. "has done it with HER!" Pointed at Dawn, who was chatting with Misty. "And that gave them THAT?" He pointed at the little child that was running around the table.

"Yes." Ash simply stated and looked towards the table. "Looks like they'll be done soon, they forced you to dance with anyone yet?"

Surge shook his head, but Paul was in deep in his thoughts, making Meowth slap him on the back of the head. "Hey! Snap out of it, will ya?"

"What? Oh, I don't know..."

"Look, Paul." Ash sighed. "I normally don't give a shit about other's problem, but you're my friend... and Dawn's something that I would call a friend too, actually. So, if there's something I can do to help you, just say the word."

"Actually..." Paul hesitated. "There's something you can do..."

* * *

"Alright!" Brock's father, Flint, clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "It's time for the 'Bridal Waltz'!"

Everybody cheered, even if it really wasn't a waltz. It was more like the couple chose their favorite love-song and danced to it, just another one of the Harrison's family traditions. However, they were all interested in seeing how well Brock and Holly could move on the dance floor.

Brock gulped and looked really nervous as he walked out onto the floor. He bowed to Holly and she curtsied in response.

"The loving couple has chosen "Because You Loved Me", By Celine Dion!" Flint could hear a certain dark haired trainer groan in agony when he heard that.

The music came out from a couple of randomly placed loud-speakers.

Brock and Holly didn't care about the waltz, Holly simply took her hands and locked her fingers behind Brock's neck as Brock put his hands on her hips, earning some wolf-whistles from some of the not-so-sober men.

The music began

_For all those times you stood by me  
For all the truth that you made me see  
For all the joy you brought to my life  
For all the wrong that you made right  
For every dream you made come true  
For all the love I found in you  
I'll be forever thankful baby  
You're the one who held me up  
Never let me fall  
You're the one who saw me through __,through it all  
_

Brock mimicked the text as he looked at his new wife, she blushed and gave him a quick kiss on the lips before they continued to sway to the rhythm of the music.

_You were my strength when I was weak  
You were my voice when I couldn't speak  
You were my eyes when I couldn't see  
You saw the best there was in me  
Lifted me up when I couldn't reach  
You gave me faith 'coz you believed  
I'm everything I am  
Because you loved me  
_

May was starting to grow worried, after the next verse she and Ash were to start dancing, and she couldn't find him anywhere! And even worse, it was he who was to ask her... this didn't look good at all.

_You gave me wings and made me fly _

She could see a dark hat make his way through the crowd, a rodent was seated on it but jumped off a few seconds later.

_You touched my hand I could touch the sky _

_I lost my faith, you gave it back to me  
You said no star was out of reach  
You stood by me and I stood tall  
_

Her heart took a big leap as she saw the handsome young man approach her, actually having a slight, troubled smile on his face.

_I had your love I had it all  
I'm grateful for each day you gave me  
Maybe I don't know that much _

He stopped in front of her, clearing his throat loudly, it looked like he was in some kind of internal battle...

_But I know this much is true  
I was blessed because I was loved by you  
_

He finally opened his mouth, looking her straight in her eyes, piercing her soul.

"May, may I have this dance?" The words that came out of his mouth didn't sound forced, May could almost swear that he spoke it from his heart.

"Sure, why not?" She smiled widely and let him lead her out from the crowd and to the middle of the dance-floor, where Holly and Brock continued to sway back and forth slowly, lost to the world.

The trainer took a deep breath before he placed his hands on her hips, it still looked like he was fighting some kind of battle inside him.

May smiled a bit and pulled him close, so their bodies met, making him embrace her instead of just holding her, then they started to dance.

_You were my strength when I was weak  
You were my voice when I couldn't speak  
You were my eyes when I couldn't see  
You saw the best there was in me  
Lifted me up when I couldn't reach  
You gave me faith 'coz you believed  
I'm everything I am  
Because you loved me  
_

"Ash?" May asked carefully as she rested her head on his chest.

"Hm?" Ash only muttered, he was too busy finding out what kind of scent she had on her hair.

"Are you regretting dancing with me?" May clenched her teeth for the incoming answer.

"Yes."

May smiled at him. "Ash, you may be skilled at tricking boys... but you can't ever lie to a girl, we see right through you.

Ash made a mental note to sometime, somehow destroy that ability...

"Really?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Really." May said as she nuzzled deeper into his clothed chest.

_You were always there for me  
The tender wind that carried me  
A light in the dark shining your love into my life  
You've been my inspiration  
Through the lies you were the truth  
My world is a better place because of you_

_"_Don't they make a cute couple?" Holly asked her husband as they watched the other couple dancing near them.

"Huh?" Brock diverted his gaze from Holly to Ash and May, causing him to smile weakly. "I wonder what Norman is going to say about this..."

"You mean the man who's crying over there?" Holly asked in confusion, causing Brock to follow her gaze.

"What do you mean cr-... oh..." He laughed and continued to dance with the love of his life.

_You were my strength when I was weak  
You were my voice when I couldn't speak  
You were my eyes when I couldn't see  
_

Brock, Holly, Ash and May were not alone on the dance floor anymore, Lucian had started to dance with Lola as Flint danced with Rhonda, making thus starting the exodus of people starting to dance, including the odd couple of Gary and Erika.

_You saw the best there was in me  
Lifted me up when I couldn't reach  
You gave me faith 'coz you believed  
I'm everything I am  
Because you loved me_

May moved her face closer to Ash's, this was just too perfect a moment and she didn't want it to ever end.

_I'm everything I am _

So close... just a little more...

_Because you loved me  
_

The song ended and people started to clap, waking Ash and May up from the trance that they were in.

Ash cleared his throat, giving a short bow to May and then made his way quickly towards Paul and Surge, who sat there with really REALLY big grins on their faces.

"Well, Mr. Romeo." Lt. Surge laughed at the trainer. "Knew you would pull through!"

"Not... a... word..." Ash growled as he seemed to be lost in thought. "Alright, I've been here for far too long. Paul, me and Surge are going to help you with your... problem... when everybody's finished the cake, another dance will start up, you know what to do?"

"Yeah, I think so." Paul nodded, any of the dark attitude that he had at the beginning seemed to have disappeared for the moment.

"Don't screw this up." Ash sighed and made his way towards an unknown location.

* * *

"Okay! Everybody!" Lola cried out in a glad tone. "It's cake-time!"

They rolled in a big, white cake, with two pokeballs on top of it, symbolizing the bond between the newly wedded couple. It was about five feet high and had a lot frosting on it with some white wafer flowers arranged in an intricate pattern. Everyone there looked at it with hunger in their eyes… well, almost everyone...

Ash stood outside of the tent, while Brock and Holly were cutting the cake, sharing laughter with everyone around. He sighed and looked at the darkening sky, it was getting late.

"Sabrina." Ash sighed as he felt a familiar aura behind him. "I don't think I'm in the mood for killing each other right now... can we do it tomorrow?"

"I'm not here to fight, aura-user." Sabrina stated as she walked up to his side.

"If it's about the pictures, forget i-"

"I'm don't care about those, you can keep them." She answered calmly and gazed into the night. "I can honestly say that I don't give a damn about whatever you do-"

"Same here." Ash lifted his glass which he had gotten from the bar.

"Let me finish..." Her eyes glowed a light shade of red for a brief moment, but disappeared as quickly as it came. "But I do care about May Maple, and she cares about you... So you will-"

"Why's everyone suddenly so interested in my bloody life?" Ash muttered and threw away the empty glass, not caring where it landed. "Where did 'mind your own business' go?"

"About thirty years ago." Sabrina, who had a hard time understanding irony, spoke in a normal tone. "There's some people who love and get... and there are other ones who love, and never gets... where do you think you belong?"

"I don't belong to any of those categories." He muttered. "I don't love, and I don't get."

"Is that the truth... or is that what you want to be the truth?" The psychic asked with a slight frown as she walked away from him. "You better be on your guard, tomorrow when the wedding is over, our truce will no longer be valid..."

"Was about to say the same to you..." Ash growled and watched the retreating back of the psychic-master. "Witches... think they know everything..."

He could hear from the sound in the marquee that the cake was almost finished and that they were going to start dancing again.

"Alright, a promise is a promise." Ash said to himself as he walked back inside.

* * *

Paul could see Ash reenter the tent, a slight frown visible on his face; he could see how he signaled for Surge to follow him.

The frontier brain took a deep breath; as long as he stayed calm it would all go well...probably...

He could see Lt. Surge and Ash approach Dawn, but it wasn't her that they were after though... rather it was her two 'bodyguards'.

He could see Ash tap Kenny on the shoulder and Surge grab Conway and turned him around forcefully. Both the trainer and gym leader whispered something in the coordinator's and assistant's ears, causing the coordinator to nod and the assistant pale.

The strong trainers then lead them away from the blunette, with the 'prisoners' keeping silent.

He took another deep sigh, walking across the dance-floor towards the blunette. He stopped for a moment as he saw that she sent him a cold look, but he only continued, all the while thinking that he should've done this two years ago...

"What do you want, Paul?" Dawn asked with a sharp tone as she eyed him.

"I want to talk to you." He slowly stated.

"About what?"

"About him." He made a nod towards Scott, who was too busy playing with Max to notice anything.

Dawn's eyes widened, and her eyes softened a little.

"Alright, let's talk."

* * *

"Sure is a cold night, Pikachu." Ash mumbled to the rodent, who had finally taken off that ridiculous costume, who sat on his shoulder with a little frown on its cute face. "Sure is cold..."

"Pikachu, Pika pi!" The rodent exclaimed with a happy smile.

"Pikachu, just because you, and the other guys, like May's pokemon, doesn't mean that I have to Like May." Ash stated with a sigh.

"Pi!" The rodent turned his back on him with crossed arms.

"Come on, now, buddy." Ash rubbed the little mouse behind its ears, making it coo in happiness. "It's different for us humans, for you it's... well, only a question. But, for us, it's a whole science."

"Pikachu!"

"Why do you make everything sound so easy?" Ash groaned and put his face in his hands. "I don't know what to do, its all's that bloody Drew's fault! If it hadn't been for him, she might have liked me when we were younger and-"

"It might have been us who shared the first dance of the evening in there." Came a sweet voice, Ash didn't even bother to turn around.

"How long have you been standing there, May?"

"Long enough to hear your dilemma." May giggled a bit and picked Pikachu from Ash's shoulder and started to pet him. "You know... it's pretty funny to see how quickly our pokemon change, first they hated each other, and now they don't seem to want leave the other alone!"

"So that's why everybody, except Pikachu, ran into the woods..." Ash muttered as he remembered how he had summoned everyone of his pokemon he had with himself. "That might be true, but just because a pokemon likes another, it doesn't mean that their trainers would be the same story..."

"So, it's just one-sided thing then?" May whispered in his ear as she moved closer to him, making the trainer take a few steps back.

"Look, May." Ash sighed. "I've done terrible things, I wouldn't be surprised if I got 'put to sleep' if the police ever found out my real identity... what do I have left? Nothing, I earn money by hunting down pokemon and people!"

The brunette only looked at him with a tilted head, making him sigh once again.

"May, you're one of the most successful coordinators in about ten generations, you have a family, home, job, fans, everything... all I've is my pokemon and a house in Pallet Town I haven't visited in several years..."

"Why should I care about that?" May asked after a moment of silence. "I don't care about that."

"But I do." Ash shook his head. "It's my life, and I like it the way it is, no worries, no burdens, no duties, no anything! It's a life I've wanted for a really long time... and I don't think I'm ready to give it up."

"I- I see..." May sobbed a bit, causing Ash to take his hand and carefully tilt her chin up.

"Hey, listen, don't start crying... it's a wedding, and somebody told me that everyone should be happy then, right?"

The brunette nodded, dried her tears and walked back into the marquee, leaving Ash and Pikachu there in silence.

"Pika, pikachu-pi." The rodent said after a moment.

"I know..." Ash sighed. "But I don't want her to become like me... not a single bit."

The trainer didn't care about the wedding, he didn't care about anything other than his pokemon, and all he wanted to do now was to get some sleep.

He sighed one last time, then threw his hat and gloves on the ground, ripped of his cloak, and started to walk back to his camp with the rodent, who was silently cooing, on his shoulder.

* * *

"So, you see... I didn't know what to do..." Paul sighed after 15 minutes of explanation. "I ran... will you ever forgive me?"

"Are you ready to take care of Scott?" Dawn asked with a hard glare.

"Yes, I a-"

"We'll see about that." Dawn held up a hand, she then called the little boy to her, who was looking rather tired. "Scott, darling, what do you think about this man?"

The little boy walked up to Paul and looked at him for a bit, poked him on the leg, and even smelled him... after a minute of thinking the child had come to a conclusion.

"Theees owd mad lee-minds me of... me" He started to laugh and hug the man's leg.

"Is... is that an okay?" Paul asked nervously.

The pretty blunette nodded with a smile, happy that her child had a father now.

Paul laughed and picked up the little kid, who had started to climb all around me, his tiredness all but forgotten.

* * *

"Well, Holly." Brock held his wife in his arms and looked into her eyes. "Is this what you thought would happen on your wedding?"

"No..." She giggled as she saw Brock's face fall. "It's much better..."

The breeder started to laugh and held her close to himself, refusing to let her go.

"I love you, Holly."

"I love you too, Brock."

Max and Misty started to cry at the beautiful scene that was happening in front of them...

* * *

_Next day... early__ morning..._

* * *

A tall man with dark hair stood at the big house of Harrisons', thinking for himself. On his shoulder sat a rodent, and a cat stood next to him with a thoughtful face too. The man was dressed in his original clothes, the ones he had borrowed from Brock a few days ago. On his back were a big, black, backpack, looking really heavy, but the man didn't care about it.

His motorcycle had been sold, he didn't want it anymore, he couldn't keep to the speed-limit with that one anyway... a quick deal, the buyer went after looks rather than performance and paid him a great deal for it.

The sun was just about to go over the house, slightly blinding the three beings as they stood there and kept their gaze on the house.

"Take a good look at the place." Ash spoke after a while to his pokemon. "Because this is probably the last time we'll see it."

"Got it, boss." Meowth nodded, a sad expression on his face, and his trainer knew why.

"You can stay here, Meowth, I would almost recommend it." The trainer looked at the scratch-cat with a slight worried look.

"You already know the answer, boss." Meowth shook his head. "I'm staying with you, wherever you go."

"Pikachu?"

The rodent also nodded and nuzzled its cheek against Ash's, bringing a little smile to the trainer's face.

"Alright, let's go then."

He turned around, not looking back, and started to walk away from the Harrisons' house.

"Are you leaving already!" He could hear a voice call, the trainer turned around, only to be greeted by two people.

"I thought you would be on your way to your honeymoon..." Ash said as he looked at Brock and Holly.

"Did you really think that I'd leave before I got the time to say goodbye to my best friend?" Brock smiled as he and Holly walked up to him. "Thanks, Ash, for everything."

"You're welcome." The trainer said and let himself be taken into another hug from the breeder.

"Thank you, Ash!" Holly smiled and hugged him too, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek as well, Ash actually rubbed the back of his head in slight embarrassment.

"Anyway..." Ash said slowly. "I think it's time for me to leave..."

"Don't you dare, mister!" Ash froze at the sound of that voice, he turned around and saw six more people. "We'll not let you slip away from us again... at least not without giving us a real goodbye!"

Ash smiled weakly at the group of Misty, Dawn, May, Max, Norman and Caroline.

"I never came back..." Ash turned around and started to walk, only to be grabbed by the arm and pulled into a hug by smaller arms.

The trainer sighed as he tried to release himself from the Max's grip, who was actually sobbing. "It's alright, Max, I'm sure we'll see each other again." Ash lied.

"No! We won't!" The young boy stated as he looked at Ash. "You're not planning on coming back!"

Ash didn't answer him, he only let Dawn, Misty, Caroline and Norman hug him, most of them were crying as well.

"Please, Ash, don't go..." Dawn begged him. "Paul and I haven't even picked a godfather for Scott, and-"

"Don't try to convince me to come for another event!" Ash laughed a bit, but that soon died out as he saw the sad looks on their faces. "Look, I got to go, there's nothing I can do."

May now walked up to him, looking him straight in the eyes.

"Ash, I've wanted to do this for several years."

Ash got the hint and sighed.

"Smack!" The sound took Ash by surprise as he staggered back, taken by surprise at the brunette's strength as he rubbed his cheek.

"That's it?" He asked, feeling rather grumpy.

"No... that's not it." May stated and pulled Ash into a deep kiss, she even leaned backward so Ash had to support her so she wouldn't fall.

Suddenly, a thought struck Ash and he straightened the brunette up immediately, looking at her with a weak smile, Norman had started to sob again.

"Look, I need to get going now... goodbye." Ash sighed as he, Pikachu and Meowth, walked away from the group, not looking back.

"Wait! Ash!" Brock cried out behind him. "Can you at least tell us where you are going?"

"I've heard that Lance has started to think too highly of himself... and the Indigo League's only a couple of weeks away." Ash looked back and smiled. "Goodbye."

And, his friends actually started to laugh, they laughed because they now knew that they had forced a little of the old Ash back into the new one, they laughed because they knew there was still hope for their friend.

"Goodbye... Ash..." May clutched her hand over her chest as she saw the retreating form become smaller and smaller as he walked away from them.

"Come on, May." The brunette looked at her mother. "Did you really win the Grand Festival by just giving up?"

"No, mom." May shook her head. "Someone taught me to never give up and-"

"Isn't that 'someone' the same person who's leaving us?" Norman smiled a bit through his tears.

May got the hint and smiled, she ran up and hugged her parents, waved goodbye to her friends before she started to sprint after the trainer.

"Ash! Wait up!" Brock could hear May shouting after the trainer.

Ash didn't run back, he didn't walk back, he didn't turn around, he didn't even stop... but he started to walk noticeably slower, so the brunette could catch up with him.

Brock could see how May grabbed hold of Ash's arm and leaned against, but Ash wiggled it free, and put it over the brunette's shoulders, holding her tighter to his own body as they were walking off in the distance.

"I really hope that holds..." Holly sighed happily as she watched them. "They look too cute to not be together!"

Brock then started to laugh, gaining Holly's attention.

"What's so funny, Brock?" She asked with a frown.

"Nothing..." The breeder chuckled. "I'm just hoping that they'll get a daughter soon."

"Why is that?" Holly asked, eyebrows raised.

"Because I can't wait to see the meeting between Ash and her first date!" Brock then broke down, laughing hysterically.

"Brock, you're mean!"

"I can be anything you want me to be..." Brock smiled as he took Holly into a hug. "What do you say we start that honeymoon now?"

"Thought you'd never ask..." Holly said as she smiled mischievously at him.

**End of the story**

* * *

**The story's finished (feels a little sad...)! And it was quite a hard thing to do... At first, I planned on making Ash either change back completely or stay as dark as in the beginning... although I hesitated when about 50% wanted it to end in a nice advanceshipping-end and the rest wanted him to stay dark... so I simply met in the middle ;)**

**I couldn't have managed it alone, the wedding would be totally screwed if it hadn't been for Justicez (helping me with the wedding, grammar, spelling and logic) and the anonymous reviewer "Jillo" (May's and Holly's clothing). Of course, many more has helped me with the rest of the story in different ways!**

**Now, I don't know when I'll publish my next story... but I'll give you a little summary what's it about:**

**It's during the middle ages, there's Aura Guardians in it (Ash is one? Maybe...), there's war, drama, love, action, friendship, death, life, sacrifice, bravery, betrayal, humor and tragedy (no special order) in it! And a pearlshipping ending! Although, I do think that most of you can read the story, if you're not absolute anti-pearlshipping, since it won't be until the end of it (and there's not even a certainty that it will really end in it!)**

**I'll see you some of you in my next story! But for now...:**

**It's better to review later than never and I'll be seeing you in my next story!**

**R&R!  
**


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